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a.
>5
1
GRAYDON'S
MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN TIME.
Sic ego sim ; liceatque capat canescere canis,
Temporis et prisci fiicta refene senem. — ^Tibullus.
MEMOIRS
HIS OWN TIME.
WITH
REMINISCENCES
or THE
MEN AND EVENTS
REVOLUTION.
BT
ALEXANDER GRAYDON.
EDITED BT
JOHN STOCKTON LITTELL,
MBHBBll or TBB IltaTORICAL HOCIKTT t>9 PBXRSYLV \NU.
PHILADELPHIA:
LINDSAY & BLAKISTON.
1846.
Entered according to the Act of Congren, in the year 1846,
BY JOHN 8. LITTELL,
In the Clerk*B Office of the District Conrtf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
ORI008 & CO., PRINTERS.
.^iV
CONTENTS.
Page
Editor's Introduction. ....... xi
Introduction. .-.--... 13
CHAPTER I.
BriBtoi. — ^The Aathor*8 account of his family, and early edacation. — So-
ciety of PhiladeIphia.^Accident. — Family history. — Quakers. — School
at Bristol. — School discipline. — Mr. Dove. — Philadelphia Academy. —
Mr. Kinnersley. — Anecdote. — Early Adventure. — Author's early Cha.
racter.— Ballad.— Death of the Author's father. — Latin School. — Mr.
Beveridge. — ^Anecdotes of Mr. Beveridge. — School anecdote. — Singular
petition,— Beveridge's poems.— Philadelphia.— Academy. — Author's ear-
ly clas8.mates. ........16
CHAPTER n.
ReCroepectire events in the Anther's history. — Philadelphia.— Yellow fever.
— Lodging.hoase. — Foot races.— Pazton boys. — ^Tbey threaten the city.
^>gle and Friend.— Author's early amusements.— School anecdotes.—
Sailing excursion.— Swimming and Skating.^Abb^ Raynal.— Lodging.
house guests.— Baron De Kalb. — Lady Moore.— Lady Susan O'Brien. —
Woodward.— Sir William Draper.— Frank Richardson.— Anecdote. —
Major Etherington.—Anecdote«— Majors Small and Fell.— General
Reid.— Captain WullRce.- Anecdote of Joseph Church.— *Rivington the
printer. -...----48
A*
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
Page
The Author mixes in new Society.— Is destined for the Law. — His charac-
teristic Indolence. — American players. — Anecdotes. — Dramatic Poetry.
—Author's pursuits.— Debating Society.— MeUphysical subtleties.—
Causes of youthful follies.— Letters of Junius.— Tamoc Caspipina.—
Mr. Duche. ...-..-. 79
CHAPTER IV.
The Author removes to York. — Society there. — A Maryland Parson. —
Odd character. — Judge Stedman. — Mr. James Smith. — Family circle. —
Author returns to Philadelphia. — Prosecutes the study of the Law. —
Fencing. — Mr. Pike.— City Tavern. — Singular case of mental derange,
mcnt— Retrospective reflections. — Causes of the American War. — State
of Parties.— Volunteer Companies. — Political consistency. — Preparations
for War. — Anecdote. — Early attachment. — Dr. Kearsley. — Mr. Hunt —
Major Skene. ........ 100
CHAPTER V.
Congress Assembles. — Continental Battalions. — State of Parties. — Mr.
Richard Penn. — His Character. — Levy of Troops. — Officers. — Ad.
venture^ — Patriotism. — Recruiting. — 111 Success. — Discipline. — Author
sent on a Mission. — Baron Woedtke. — Military Preparations. — ^Road to
Albany. — Saratoga. — Fort Edward. — Lake George. — General Schuyler.
— His Character. — Author returns to his Regiment — Judge Livingston. 129
CHAPTER VI.
Tiie Author leaves Philadelphia.— Appearance of the Army.— Character
of the Soldiers.— Erection of Fort Washington.— Fort Lee. — Character
of General Mifflin. — An odd Character.— Connecticut Light Horse. —
Character of the Army.— Declaration of Indcpendcncc.—Statucof George
III,_ British land on Long Island.>^Action with the Enemy.— New
York. Privations of Soldiers.~»Long Island. — Entrenchments. — Skir.
mishing.— Midnight Scene in Camp.— Retreat to New York.— Reflec
lions.— Washington vindicated,— General Howe.— Conductof the British. 145
CONTENTS. VU
CHAPTER Vn.
Page
Americans abuidon New York.^Take post at Fort Washington.— Cha.
racter of Officers. — Fire in New York. — ^Patnam. — Greene.— Promo-
tions.— Fort Wa8hing:ton threatened. — Sammoned by General Howe. —
Americans attacked and retire. — ^Account of the Engagement 172
CHAPTER Vni.
The Aatbor a Prisoner.— Conduct of British Officers and Soldier^.— The
Author's Treatment— State of Prisoners. — Visits to Prboners. — Treat-
ment— Major Maitland. — ^Reflections. — Americans and English con-
trastcd.— Character of General Howe. — Killed and Wounded. — Charac
ter of Mr. Becket — Humanity of British Officers. — March of Prisoners
to New York. — Occurrences on the Road. — Generosity of a Highlander.
— Disposal of Prisoners. — Officers' Quarters.— Baggage Restored. —
Author appears in Regimentals. — ^Reflections. • - 203
CHAPTER IX.
Pardon offered by Howe to the Americans, upon return to their allegiance.
— Letter of Greneral Washington. — An Officer's dinner party. — A stngu-
far Character. — Treatment of Prisoners. — Reflections on the American
policy. — Memorial presented to Greneral Howe. — Situation of Affairs.—
American Officers. — Deserters from the cause of Independence.— Pros*
pects.— Coffeehouse Incident — British Provost Marshal. — Colonel Al-
len.— ^Result of application to General Howe.— Exchange of Prisoners. —
Removalof officers to Long Island. ..... 227
CHAPTER X.
Sitaation of Officers at Long Island.— Society at Flat-bush. — Manners of
the People.— Mr. Bacho.— Captain Hutchins. — Domine Reubell. — Do-
mine Van Zinder.— An Excursion. — Public Feeling.— Mr. Wallace. —
Officers* Appointments.— Obstructions to an Exchange. — Hardships of
Captivity.— Elagiac Stanzas of the Author.— Obstacles to exchange of
officers. — Author visited by his Mother. — Maternal Anxiety. — British
Post— Officers.— Sir George Osborne. — Bon Mot^ Applications for
Anther's releasa«^Application to General Howe.- Author liberated on
hie Parole^Reflections on War. . - • .264
via CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
Page
The Author leaves Loi^r Liland for New York and Elizabethtown."— Author
arrives at New York.— Travelling Companions.— Tench Coze.— Ar-
rival at the American Camp. — Greneral Washington. — Colonel Hamilton.
—American Army* — General Wayne.-— Oocorrenoes on the Road^— An^
thor arrives at Philadelphia. — ^Arrival at Reading. — ^Political Feelings. —
Declaration of Independence. — Character of Franklin. — ^Leading Men. —
Mr. Canon. — Mr. Bryan. - - - - . - 271
CHAPTER Xn.
Philadelphia Threatened. — Washington marches to meet the Enemy. —
Review of the Army. — Action at Brandy wine.— Reflections on National
Strength. — Measares of Washington.— Character of his Operations. —
Defeat of Borgoyne.— Society at Reading. — Generals Mifflin, Gates, Con-
way, Lee. — Captain Speke. — Prisoners. — British Officers on Parole. —
Author Exchanged. — Married. — ^Reflections. — Occorrence ofthe War. —
Charles Thomson. . . ... . . - 289
CHAPTER XIII.
Affectation in Titles. — Escape of Prisoners. — Major Williams.— Mr. For*
rest — General exchange of Prisoners. — Supernumerary Officers.^—
Generals Wabhinoton and Charles Lee. — Character of Lee. — ^Drayton. —
Laurens.— Military Anecdotes. — ^Author enrolled in the MUitia.—
Wanton Oppression.— Mr. Parvin.— Quaker Opinions of War. — Dr.
Franklin. — Visiters at Reading. — Mrs. Macaulay. — Popular Feeling. —
Milton.— Constitutionalists and Republicans.— Author obtains an ap.
pointment— John Dickinson.— Political Consistency.— Charles James
Fox 313
CHAPTER XIV.
Constitution of the United States.— Wasbincton elected President. —
Meeting of Convention.— The Senate.— Executive Power.— Regulation
ofthe Press.— State of Parties.— Leading Characters in the Convention.
—French Revolution.- Burke and Paine.— Washington's Adminiftra.
tion.— Party DiMenaions.— Mr. JsmtsoN.— State of ParUes. - 339
CONTENTS. IX
CHAPTER XV.
Page
Yellow Fever. — Marsh Effluvia. — Popular Feelings towards France.—
Party Feelings.— A Threatened Insurrection suppressed by the Presi-
dent — The Western Expedition. — ^Address to the President — French
Party. — Treaty with Great Britain Opposed. — Rocbefoucault — French
Travellers. — M. Talon.— Genet— Washington's Retirement— Character
ofWASBINOTOK. ....... 365
CHAPTER XAl.
Election of John Adams to the Presidency. — His Administration. — Mission
to France. — French Party in America. — Imposition of Taxes. — Singular
Fabrication. — Another popular Insurrection. — Election of Jefierson to
the Presidency. — Popular Fanaticism. — Author's Political Principles. —
Death of WASHiiiaTOR. — Character of Jefferson. — Concluding Reflec
tions.— Conclusion. ....... 385
APPENDIX.
Alexander Graydon, the Elder, - - - - -417
Dr. lAuchlan Madeane, • - - - - - -*418
Warreo, - ........ 421
Battle of Bunker's Hill, - - 421
Jofan Hancock, ........ 435
BeTcrend Jacob Duch^ ....... 428
Letter from Mr. Duch^ to General Washington, .... 429
General Washington to Francis Hopkinson, .... 437
Francis Hopkinson to Jacob Duch6, ..... 438
Letter from Mr. Ducbe to General Washington, . . . .441
Letter from General Washington to Mr. Duchd, .... 442
Joseph Galloway, . - 443
John Dickinson, ....... 445
Letter from Washington to Reed, ...... 449
Capture of General Charles Lee, ...... 451
General Washington to Colonel Reed or Cadwalader, 454
X CONTENTS.
Page
Wafihington at Brandy wine, ...... 455
Battle of Monmouth, ..--... 457
General Lee to General Washington, ..... 459
General Lee to General Waahington, ..... 461
Washington to Lee, ....... 469
Lee to Washington, ....... 463
Lee to Washington, ... .... 463
Washington to Lee, ....... 463
Charges against Lee, ....... 464
Washington and Lee, - .... - 464
Washington to Reed, ....... 466
Lee*s Qaeries, Political and Military, ..... 466
Miss Franks and General Lee, ...... 468
General Lee to Miss Franks, . - 470
Colonel John Laurens, ....... 472
Charles James Fox, ....... 476
Washington at Harrisborgh, ...... 478
President Adams, ..... 480
President Adam*s Answer to the Harrisborgh Address. Comments by
Mr.Graydon. 482
Jefierson, His Election to the Presidency, 484
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
No apology vnll be oflfered by the Editor for the republication
of this volume. The candid and intelligent reader, whatever
may be his political predilections, who, in the spirit of honour-
able inquiry, seeks only for truth, who can value manly sincerity,
and appreciate the importance of the subjects truthfully and grace-
fiilly discussed by its accon^lished Author, would feel his under-
standing insulted, and his taste and judgment questioned, by any
such attempt.
Five and thirty years have elapsed since, at an obscure, pro-
vincial press, the first edition of this Work was anonymously,
issued, and left to win its way, by slow degrees, and without any
of the adventitious aids so abundantly characteristic of the present
time, to public notice and favour. It was, moreover, at that
comparatively early period of our national being, a far more
serious enterprize to write and to publish a book, even of the
modest dimensions of this, than can easily be conceived by those
who only regard, with feelmgs approaching to wonder, the rapid
and endless multiplications of the press at this more prosperous
xii editor's intboduction.
and more literary era. In addition to these disadvantages,
although its respectable printer availed himself of such facilities
for its external decoration as his, then, remote position enabled
him to command, the appearance of the volume was singularly
unattractive and defective. To these formidable obstacles to its
success may be superadded yet another. The title, — a most
important feature in the mystery of authorship, — felled to con-
vey a just idea of its character and scope, and it dropped, un*
heeded, from the press.* The personal friends of the Author, —
and they were numerous and warmly attached, — it is true en-
couraged the publication of the Work by liberal subscriptions for
copies, which, to some extent, were subsequently distributed as
gifts ; but its sale, at the book-stores, was extremely restricted,
and scantily contributed to the liquidation of expenses incurred.
This edition is presented to the public with a title somewhat
modified, but, as the Editor conceives, more expressive and ap-
propriate ; and this is the only freedom, in the way of alteration,
he has presumed to take.
The personal nature of these Memoirs has left but little for the
Editor to add, in regard to their estimable Author; who has, with
an unrestrained and a steady hand, frankly delineated his own
character throughout the work. This, at all times, an extremely
delicate and difficult task, is said, by those who knew him well,
to have been faithfully accomplished; and although there was
little beyond the limits of habitual and gentlemanly propriety for
* The original title wu as fdlows :•—
««B|einoin of a Life, Chieflj Paaaed in Penneylfania, within the Laat Sixty
Yean, with Oocaaional Remarks opon the General Occurrenceii Character
and Spirit of that Eventful Period. Barrishargh : Printed bj John Wyeth.
1811."
editor's nrrBODUcnoN. xiii
him to expose in the way of confession, that confession has been
honestly and courageously made.
In the year 1785, having received, firom the Executive Com-
mittee of Pennsylvania, an appointment to the Prothonotaryshi^
of the newly organized county of Dauphin, Mr. Graydon re-
moved to Harrisburgh for the purpose of entering upon the duties
of his office, which he continued to perform in a manner alike
creditable to himself and advantageous to the public, until his
sudden expulsion by (Jovemor McKean, — to whom belongs the
unenviable distinction of being the father of political proscription
in the United States. He then retired to a small farm which he
possessed in the vicinage of Harrisburgh, where he continued to
reside until the year 1816, when he returned to Philadelphia with
the intention of engaging in literary pursuits, and, with a view to
the increase of a very restricted income, of entering upon the
business of a Publisher.
** There never breathed a man who, when his life
Was closing, might not of that life relate
Toils long and hard,"*
and Mr. Graydon was, by no means, a fortunate exception to
the general rule. Ere he could mature the plans, from which, in
his life's decline, he had hoped to secure the independence he
coveted, and which would have adorned, with a peculiar grace,
his character, tastes, and years; or from which to repair the
breach unexpectedly, cruelly, and causelessly made by arbitrary
and vindictive Executive power, he yielded to the mandate which
all must obey, and closed his honourable, useful, and virtuous life
on the second day of May, 1818, in the sixty-seventh year of his
• WOUMWOKTB.
B
Xiv EDFIOR's XNTB<H)UCnON.
age. Mr. Graydon was twice married. His first wife, in whom
he has well succeeded in engaging the interest of the reader, was
Miss Wood, frofti Berks country, who died at Harrisburgh early
in^^he year 1794. His second wife was Miss Theodosia Pettit,
daughter of Colonel Charles Pettit, of Philadelphia, who sur-
vived her husband eighteen years. He had no children by either
marriage.
Mr. Graydon was ardently attached to literature, and to lite-
rary pursuits. He was a frequent and acceptable contributor to
the "Port Folio" in its palmiest days of popularity and influ-
ence. These contributions, which, for the most part, were mo-
destly denominated "Notes of a Desultory Reader," contain
his opinions of the authors whose works he had read, accompa-
nied with occasional critiques upon their style, and are invariably
written in the strain of candour and ease that so remarkably cha-
racterize the Memoirs; afibrding, moreover, indubitable evidence
of the elevation and purity of his own sentiments, and of an
enlaiged, well disciplined and highly cultivated mind. His lite-
rature, indeed, was various, extensive, and elegant to a degree
unusual at the time in which he lived ; and not very common
among his steam-propelling, money-seeking countrymen, at any
subsequent period.
It was, at one time, the wish of the Editor to incorporate these
articles into this edition of the Memoira, but he was reluctant to
swell the volume by the addition of matter having no connexion
with the topics of which it treats. If, however, another edition
tbould be called for, the original intention may be deemed worthy
of reconsideration; or they may, perhaps, form a separate vo-
lume, under the tide of "Remains." They were valuable con-
XV
tributions, and creditable to the periodical literature of the day,
amd are certainly deservmg of publication and preservation.
The Editor of the "Port Folio" in a notice of the Memoirs,
contained in his number for April, 1818, in language appropriate
and strong, declares that the " performance is one of the most
interesting which the loom of American authorship has produced ;"
and, in adverting to the unfortunate garb in which it came forth,
remarks farther, that he felt no surprise that the public had failed
to discover the " Gem, that was concealed beneath an unpromising
exterior." The brief critique is valuable, both on account of the
justness of the writer's views, and also as evidence of a generous
and candid contemporaneous appreciation of our Author. The
following extract will not be unacceptable to the reader: —
"We shall not hesitate to say, in going back to a book that
was published before our labours commenced, that our object is
to stimulate the reading part of the community to the vindication
of their taste, which deserves reproach while these Memoirs lie
forgotten on the shelves. To those who would acquire a familiar
view of the state of manners and public opinion about the time
that our Revolution commenced, there is nothing which contri-
butes so much accurate testimony ; and to others, who have not
forgotten this eventful period, we know of nothing more capti-
vating. We are aware that the fastidious delicacy of some has
been offended by the freedom with which the writer has spoken
of individuals ; but a very great distinction must be admitted be-
tween conversation and writing. Zimmerman justly remarks, that
*to entertain readers is only to deliver freely in writing that
which, in the general intercourse of society, it is impossible to say
with safety and politeness.' It is time thatt his mawkish delicacy
XVI EDITOR'S INTHODUCTION.
should be overcome, or we shall have nothing manly in our lite-
rature ; nothing true in our history, or just in our memoirs. Our
writers, to be popular, must deal in the most ridiculous bombast
and fulsome panegyric. Our western world must be peopled by
nothing but a race of orators, like those who fulmined the thunder
of eloquence on classical grounds, and heroes who would have
rivalled a Marlborough, a Prince Eugene, or a Marshal Saxe. If
Cumberland and Marmontel had written under all the restrictions
which the fastidiousness of some of our good republicans would
impose upon the PresSj, where would be the witchery of their
pages ? If the optimates of our cities — ^we should say, persons in
society J if we could accompany the observation by a fac-simile of
the customary shrug — ^if such people will insist on an exemption
from the jurisdiction of the Press, they must contribute their quota
to the general fund of amusement and instruction in some other
way. If they would prevent us from laughing at the ostentation
of the exterior of their houses, let thenx show that hospitality and
refinement dwell within the doors. If they cannot discern the
pleasures and utility of literature, let them respect the pursuits
of wiser men, and not act as if all knowledge was confined to the
conclave of a bank or a counting-room. In conclusion, we
must observe of Mr. Graydon's book, that its veracity and its
candour are altogether beyond impeachment, and he has ques-
tioned no man's morality."
Withm a few weeks after the above was written, when caUed
upon to record the demise of this excellent man, the same writer,
who enjoyed the pleasure and advantage of his personal friend-
ship, thus feelingly alludes to the much regretted event: — <^Mr.
O^lkxdov wa3 oae of the few survivors of that old school of ac-
XVll
complished gentlemen, who flourished before our Revolution ; —
at a period when the courtesy of society was not disturbed by
insubordination in systems, nor violated by laxity in sentiments.
That he has indulged himself in some harshness in these Memoirs
win not be denied ; nor will that language be censured by those
who remember the merciless persecution by which it was pro-
voked.
•« •*So loolu the chaied lion
UpoD the daring huntsman that haa gaUed him ;
Then makes him nothing.*'
In his youth, Mr. Graydon was remarkable for the elegance of
his person, and he retained that advantage in an uncommon de-
gree to his latest hour. The elements of his temper were kindness
and good wiU ; he was frank and generous ; his disposition was
sociable and equaUy fitted to win esteem or disarm resentment ;
his conversation, chaste and pleasant, diffused the same agreeable
feelings around him which seemed to warm his own heart. His
last private communication to the writer of this memorial, derives
peculiar interest from the melancholy event by which it was
speedily followed. The letter contained a translation of a Latin
epigram ; and though the muse of our friend cannot boast the
melody of the Swan, yet she breathes the same prophetic strain.
The reader will require no apology for the insertion of an extract
fit>m Mb. Graydon's letter to the Editor: —
" In a slow convalescence from a lingering indisposition,
I have amused myself with the enclosed translation, which is at
the service of the Port Folio, if worthy of its pages. It struck
me as a pleasing trifle, and though no poet, I had a mind to try
how I could dress it in English metre. I am not unmindful of
b2
XVIU
the story in Gil Bias of the ArchbL^op of Granada, — ^the old
gentleman so celebrated for his homilies. For, though like him,
I may not be sensible of a decadence in my mental faculties, it
may nevertheless exist ; and, whether or not, every person, I pre-
sume who has attained to my years (65) will feel a want of the
vis aninue or animi, that is necessary to the ready performance of
a literary undertaking, &c."
THE ORIGINAL.
Avalsa h ramo, frotia 6 miieranda, Yireuti,
Marcida qao vadia? — Quo vadam, nescio— Qaercum
Materoam columenque meom strav^re procells.
Ind^ mihi illadit Zephyras, Boreaave ; ▼agamque
Nee contri nitor. Quo Tsndunt Omnia, Tkndo ;
Qu6 fertar pariter foliam lauri rosoque.
ATTEMPTED IN ENGLISH.
Torn from thy murturing branch, poor, fallen leaf.
What hapless lot awaits thy withering form 7
Alas ! I know not, but I mourn in chief.
My parent oak laid prostrate by the storm.
Hence, doomed the sport of every vagrant breeze,
I*m harried up the mount, then down again ;
One while I mildew under shading trees.
Now, whirlM afield, I bleach upon the plain.
In short, I ao, wihekk 4LL tbinqs SAaTHiiT tknd,
And, unresisting, meet my wasting foes i
For oaks and bcambles have one comnu>n end—
The foliage of the laurel and the rose.
••*•**" The Memoirs contain some things that
are bold and unpalateable, but it is a work of unexampled can-
dour and truth ; and will conduce more to a veritable histoiy of
XIX
flie times, to which it relates, than any other publication now
extant." • • * « Mr. Gbaydon never lost sight of those im-
perishable principles for which he had contended on the field.
He cherished the love of liberty, which beat in his heart until it
became the impression of his conscience and the conviction of
his understanding. Though a severe sufferer firom political in-
tolerance, nothing like ter^versation could be ranked among his
failings. The perilous appearances in our political horizon never
alarmed the soldier of the Revolution, who knew that the rela-
tions of truth and justice are immutable,"
In the year 1822, Mr. John Galt, well known for his many
entertaining and valuable contributions to English literature,
caused the re-publication of the Memoirs at Edinburgh, m a
handsome volume, to which he prefixed a dedication to the Ame-
rican Envoy, then resident near the Court of St. James. In this
dedication Mr. Galt bears the following judicious testimony to
the merit and character of the woric: —
" It is remarkable, that a production so rich in the various ex-
cellencies of style, description and impartiality, should not have
been known to the collectors of American books in this country,
especially as it is, perhaps, the best personal narrative that has
yet appeared relative to the history of that great conflict which
terminated in establishing the Independence of the United States.
The candour with respect to public occurrences, which it dis-
plays— ^the views of manners in Pennsylvania, prior to the memo-
rable era of 1776 — and the incidental sketches of historical cha-
racters, with which it is enriched, cannot fail to render the volume
a valuable addition to the stock of general knowledge, and will,
probably, obtain for the Author no mean place among those who
have added permanent lustre to the English language."
XX
Commendations, thus unequivocal, from sources entitled to
deference and weight, render it unnecessary to dwell longer upon
the subject. It only remains for the Editor to allude, with be-
coming brevity, to his humble labours ; and, while freely admit-
ting a general and a cordial sympathy with the Author in the
feelings and opinions he has so well portrayed and expressed, to
disclaim responsibility for their utterance where it may not justly
attach to him.
He has, indeed, on several occasions, in the notes, ventured to
express dissent from the judgments of the writer ; subsequent de-
velopments having placed within his reach, information which
could not have been accessible to Ma. Graydon.
The observations appended by the Author to the last page of
his private copy of the '^ Memoirs," are annexed to the original
conclusion, in justice to him, and as a more befitting, present ter-
mmation of the volume. But, as the Editor may not alter or
mollify any of its expressions, it is but justice to himself to
remark, that this is done without concurrence, on his part, in all
the sentiments they contain. On the contrary, he cannot,
whatever may be his own predelictions, indulge in indiscriminate
censure of the acts of any party that may chance to be in
the ascendant. The great mass of the native population — and
any disparagement of the other, influential and gradually con-
trolling portion, is emphatically disclaimed — who, alone, cherish
an exc/imoe, or, at least, predominant attachment to the soil and
institutions of their country, are, without doubt, patriotic ; and,
perhaps, the only serious charge that may reasonably be placed
to their account, is that of a too great ductility towards mere
party-leaders ; adopting, without due examination or reflection —
such as becomes intelligent citizens deserving of their freedom
XXI
and independence — ^the plausible dogmas of ignorant, unprinci-
pled demagogues, or of inexperienced and reckless experi-
mentalists.
Whatever may kave been the defects of the " Madisonian
Policy," to which Mr. Graydon alludes — and in regard to which
the knowledge of the Editor is entirely historical — it cannot, he
presumes, be denied that the Government of the country, at that
gloomy period, was encompassed by difficulties and menaced by
dangers of no ordinary character; and, as it was a manifest and
monstrous dereliction of filial duty to withhold the necessary aid
in her extrication and defence, so was it little short of treason to
mterpose obstacles to the complete and triumphant vindication of
her ri^ts and honour. Yet, to such unnatural lengths have
party antipathies, rage, and blindness, tempted men whose services
and genius would otherwise have deserved and commanded un-
qualified admiration and gratitude. It is, assuredly, the part of
wisdom to avoid warlike or angry collision and controversy with
other nations, alike injurious in their tendency to prosperity and to
morals ; — ^let the people, therefore, look well to their rulers, and
be duly carefiil in their selection ; — ^but it is equally an obvious
dictate of patriotism, whatever the "policy," by which she may
become involved, at any and at every sacrifice, to shield the country
from discomfiture and disgrace. Nor can the Editor permit the
fears or the doubts of the Author, or of other equally thoughtfiil
and patriotic men, to weaken his firm and abiding faith in the
permanency of our institutions. Of the lasting prevalence of
republican feeling, and of the rapidly progressive and widely
spreading love for these institutions, no genuine son .of the soil
diould ever encourage or entertain a doubt. It is true, that the
xxii editor's introduction.
people— fondly loved, and caressingly flattered by those ^rtio
alone are capable of serving them> and who are, therefore, ex*
clusively deserving of their smiles and offices, and honour»-*have
made some startling mistakes, which have paled the chede, and
checked the warm current of patriotic hope. We have seen, for
example, a citizen of consummate ability, of profound learning,
and of unsurpassed experience, hurled from the high station-
which his genius and talents adorned, in the whirl of popularity
achieved by a patriotic and fortunate General, whose great mili*
tary talents, and brilliant exploits in the field, were deemed suffi-
cient qualifications for the most elevvited of civic trusts!
We have, also, seen a statesman who, for forty years, has been
a leading public servant, — exercising, in the national councils, a
commanding and conservative influence ; and who, for two-thirdso£
this long period of toilsome, self-sacrificing devotion to his coun-*
try, has been, of that country, — under the guidance of a higher
Intelligence, — ^thrice the preserver; — an illustrious oflspring of its
free, equalizing, and nurturing institutions, — its greatest living
name, — ^we have seen this wise and generous man, ostracised by
strangers who are called his countiymen; and another, without
name, or fame, or service, elevated, by the controlling influence
of the same law-created citizens, fi'om the '^ thick darkness " of
obscurity, to the Chair of Washington! Such occurrences
overshadow with temporary gloom and despondency, the prospect
into futurity, and sicken the heart and depress die spirit of the
enlightened patriot, whose duty it is, notwithstanding, never to
despair while there is service to render or while a sacrifice is
required.
Afler he had commenced the preparation of the Memoirs for
xxm
fbe press, and had made considerable progress in the division of
the "work into chapters for the greater convenience of reference, —
a pbn not adopted by the Author, — the Editor was fortunate in
I»«curing a copy of the Edinbuigh edition in which Mr. Galt
had peifonned this service in a manner somewhat different, but,
on the whole, very satisfactorily ; and his arrangement, in this
respect, with sli^t modification, has been adopted. Beyond this,
however, Mr. Galt did not venture to proceed.
To this Edition, a Table of Contents, and a general Index
have been added ; and also an Appendix containing illustrative
matter, which could not, without burdening the page, be crowded
into notes.
Acknowledgements are due to Mr. Andrew Graydon, of Har-
risbtti^,for the kindness and courtesy which unreservedly placed
at the disposal of the Editor, documents that have greatly facili-
tated his researches, and especially for the use of his Uncle's pri-
vate copy of the Memoirs, to many of the pages of which the
Author had appended notes with a view, unquestionably, to.a future
republication. These notes have been faithfully transcribed and
placed where their writer evidently intended them to appear;
while those of the Editor have received their appropriate designa-
tion.
The volume is thus submitted, once more, but in a befitting
dress, to the candour of the intelligent and discriminating reader,
as a valuable addition to the historical literature of the country for
whose independence and happiness its Author perilled his fortunes
and his life ; and whatever may be his impressions in respect to
the opinions which it contains, their manifest sincerity will com-
mand respect, and the style and temper of their expression.
XXIV
while deserving of general imitation, will challenge good-will and
admiration.
The beautiful tribute of Wordswo&th to the Memory of Lamb,
is, with slight modification, ahnost equally applicable here, and
may, not inappropriately, terminate the trespass of the Editor
upon the patience of his reader : —
■^To a good man of meet dear memory
Thif f tone if sacred. Here he lies apart
From the great city where he first drew hreath.
Was reared and taught ; and humbly earned his bread
To the strict labours of the merchants* desk.
By duty chained. Not seldom did these tasks
Tease, and the thooght of time so spent depress
His spirit, but the recompense was high ;
Firm Independence, Bounty^s rightful sire ;
Affections warm as sunshine, free as air;
And when the precious hours of leisure came,
Knowledge and wisdom, gained from couferse sweet
With books, or while he ranged the crowded streets
With a keen eye, and overflowing heart : *
So genius triumphed over seeming wrong.
And pour*d out truth in works by thoughtful love
Inspired — works potent over smiles and tears.
And as round mountain -tops the lightning plays,
Thus innocently sported, breaking forth
As from a cloud of some grave sympathy,
Humour and wild instinctive wit and all
The vivid flashes of his spoken words,**
J.&L.
Germantown, Pennsylvania, j
AprU 11th, 1846. \
MEMOIRS OFALIFE,
PASSED CHIEFLY IN PENNSYLVANIA.
INTRODUCTION*
The dealers in self-biography, ever sedulous to ward off the
imputation of egotism, seldom fail to find apologies for their un-^
dertakings. Some, indeed, endeavour to persuade themselves,
that they design their labours merely for their scrutoires ; while
others, less self^deceived, admit they have an eye to the public.
The Cardinal De Retz is brought out at the request of a lady ;
Rousseau, by the desire of showing himself to a misjudging
world, in all the verity of nature ; Marmontel, writes his life for
his children at the instance of their mother; and Cumberland, so
far as his motives can be collected firom his introduction, because
he lived and was an author. If, firom these, we recur to the
account given of himself, by our own Franklin, we shall find,
that, although addressed to his son, it is intended for the world ;
and that the acknowledged motives to it, are a combination of
family curiosity and personal vanity, with the desire of showing
the connexion between thrifty youth and respectable age — a kind
of practical comment on the useful truths, contained in Poor
Richard's almanac.
Next to the good fortune of having figured in some brilliant^
active career; of having been the companion of a hero, or the
depository of state secrets J of having seen cities and men ; of
having wandered ^^ through antres vast, and deserts idle," or been
3
14 INTRODUCTION.
the subject of " moving accidents by flood and field ;" the avowed
inducement of Mr. Cumberland, is perhaps the most plausible.
Unfortunately, for the person, who, here presumes to appear
before the public, he is without one of these claims to attention.
He has no pretensions to fame or distinction in any kind, neither
as soldier, nor statesmen, nor traveller, nor author. He is not
wholly without hope, however, that his presumption may be pal-
liated ; and that, in his object, of giving a representation of the
character, spirit and more minute occurrences of his time, it will
be perceived, that there is no form, into which his work can be
thrown, with so much advantage, as into that of personal me-
moirs. By his own story, if he is not misled by self-love, a kind
of menstruum is afibrded, for the incongruous mass of his mate-
rials, serving to harmonize, in some degree, the abrupt transitions
and detached details, which, a delineation of the various incidents
of "many coloured life " requires.
As to himself, he is fully conscious, that
it matters not,
1*0 whom related, or by whom begot;
tod, therefore, he would fain buttress his undertaking, by the
opinion of an eminent poet, as vouched by Mr. Walpole, viz.
" That if any man were to form a book, of what he had seen or
heard himself, it must, in whatever hands, prove a most useful
and entertaining one." A most seducing ignis-fatuus truly, con-
sidering the latitude with which it is laid down !
But, far from wishing to forclose the reader by an opinion, which
he must own he considers a very questionable one ; or to lure him
on to an expectation of what he might vainly seek to find, he an-
nounces at his outset, that the pages here set before him, hold out
ho other inducement to his perusal, than such as may arise from
the fidelity with which he will relate incidents within the scope of
ordinary life ; and depict some occurrences, which came under
his notice, during the progress of the revolution, and since its con-
summation. In doing this, he will have occasion to speak as weH
of others as himself. He may sometimes resort to motives in ac-*
counting for men's actions; and, as these receive their qualities
INTRODUCTION. 15
from the mind of thai agent, he will with equal fireedom and truth
disclose the complexion of his own, having little, he thinks, no
inclination that it should pass for better than it is. If the mould
in which it has been formed, is not the most perfect, so neither,
does he trust, is it absolutely the most worthless: if not calculated
to produce a cast to the taste of worldly wisdom ; one, that may
advance experimentally the sound philosophy of thrift, and prac-
tically mark the routes to private wealth and public greatness, it
wiD yet be found abundaqtly fruitful, in negative instruction oi\
both points,
16 BBISnOL.
CHAPTER I.
BristoL^The Aathor*B account of his fiimilj, and early education. — Society
of Philadelphia, — Accident — Family history.— Quakers. — School at Bristol —
School discipline. — Mr. Dove. — Philadelphia Academy. — Mr. Kinnersley. —
Anecdote. — Early Adventure.— Author's early Character. — Ballad. — ^Death of
the Author's father^— Latin School. — Mr. Beveridge.— Anecdotes of Mr. Bere-
ridge^-^chool anecdote. — Singular petition. — Beveridge's poems.— Philadel>
phia.— "Academy.— Author's early class-mates.
My recollections of the village of Bristol, in "which I was bom
on the 10th of April, N. S., in tie year 1752, cannot be supposed
to go farther back than to the year 1756 or 1757. There are
few towns, perhaps, in Pennsylvania, which, in the same space of
time, have been so little improved, or undergone less alteration.**
Then, as now,t the great road leading from Philadelphia to New
York, first skirting the inlet, at the head of which stand the mills,
and then turning short to the left, along the banks of the Dela-
ware, formed the principal and indeed only street, marked by any
thing like a continuity of building. A few places for streets,
were opened from this main one, on which, here and there, stood
an humble, solitary dwelling. At a comer of two of these lanes,
was a Quaker meeting house ; and on a still more retired spot,
stood a small Episcopal church, whose lonely grave yard with its
* Just about the time of writing these memoirs, Bristol took a start, and has
since become a place of fashionable resort during the summer months, to which
its baths and chalybeate waters, together with its convenience to the inhabitants
of Philadelphia, by means of the then newly invented steamboats, have, no doubt,
principally contributed.
t 1811.
BRISTOL. 17
surrounding woody scenery, might have fiirmshed an appropriate
theme for such a muse as Gray's. These, together with an old
brick jail, (Bristol having once been the county town of Bucks,)
constituted all the public edifices in this my native town. It$
site, though flat, is not unpleasant, particularly along the bank of
the Delaware, rising to a commanding height from a fair and
gravelly margin. Hence, the eye might rove at hrge both up
and down the river, and after traversing a fine expanse of water
in an oblique direction, find an agreeable resting place in the town
of Burlington on the opposite shore.*
As in this country, there is little temptation to the tracing of a
long line of ancestry, I shall content myself with deducing a very
brief genealogy. And this^ not so much perhaps, firom an ac-
quiescence in ihe revolutionary idea of the insignificance of an
iUustrious pedigree, as from real inability to produce one. I can
go no farther, at least, than to vouch, tb^t wq had a coat of arms
in the family, borne about on the body of an old-fashioned chaise,
and engraved upon our spoon^^and a double-handled caudle
cup. But if instead of groping amidst the darkness of transat-
lantic heraldry^ we confine ourselves to our own shores, which
seems much the most congenial to the noble spirit of independence
we are pleased to manifest on other occasions, I am warranted ii^
asserting, that I am descended from ancestors, respectable both
as to station and character; firom a stock not ignoble, but honest
and generous : And if parental propensities are transmitted to ofl^
* Bristol, in 1846, is the largest town in Backs coontj^ and is distant twenty
miles from Philadelphia. **The Delaware branch of the canal from Easton ter.
minates here in a epacions basin, bringing' to the place an extensive coal trade^
The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad passes in the rear of the town. Steamt
boats are constantly touching at ^e landing." Besides the Episcopal churchy
mbore mentioned, and Quaker meeting house, there is now a Methodist meeting
bouse, a bank, (the Bank of Backs county,) an extensive flouring mill, severat
hotels and stores. ** The distinguishing characterbtic of the place, is its qaiet-
ness and rural beauty. The population in 1840 was 1,438. Scott, in his geo?
graphy published in 1806, says that Bristol, at that time, contained 90 houses^
By the census of 1800, the population was 511; in 1810, 628; in 1820, 908^
Bristol was incorporated at a borough by Sir William Keith, goTomor of the pro.
Ttttoe of Penosylvania, on the 14th of November, 1720.**^£a.
2*
18
spring in the human race, but in half the degree that they are
among quadrupeds, the value we may be disposed to set on vir-
tuous progenitors, is very far from chimerical. Several years
residence on a farm, has afforded me opportunity for some ob-
servations upon the nature of domestic animals ; and I have founds
what I should have been disposed to laugh at, had I not proved
it, that, among the ox kind especially, the vices, which seemed
mere habits of the female parent, have invariably descended to
her offspring. I venture this remark, though not quite in unison
with the tone of the subject ; and though liable to be strained
into an assumption of worth on my part, to which I may in feet
be wholly destitute of pretension.
My father was an Irishman, and, ad it appears from some im-
perfect documents in my possession, came to this country in the
year 1730. He was bom, I think, in Longftnrd, and was brou^t
up under the care t)f his maternal grandfather in Dublin, or its
neighbouriiood. Being designed for the pulpit, he had received
a suitable education, to which, having added many of the accom-
plishments at that time in fashion, he was distinguished in Phila-
delphia both as a scholar and a gentleman. It was not long since,
that the late chief justice Shippen informed me, he was the person
always appealed to, in the coffee-house controversies d the young
men of the day, on points of science and literature. During his
presidency of the county courts of Bucks, he had made himself, as
I have understood, a very tolerable lawyer, insomuch that at the
time of his death, he was, as I have been informed, in nomination
for the office of a judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania.
From the copies of letters to his friends in Ireland, soon after his
arrival in Philadelphiai, he appears not to have taken up very
favourable sentiments of its inhabitants. "Most of our trading
people here," says he, "are complaisant sharpers; and that
maxim in trade, to think every man a knave, until the contrary
evidently appears, would do well to be observed here if any
where.— 'In this province we have a toleration for all religions,
which some have enlarged so far, as to make a neglect and in-
difference of all religion, their only religion." These being the
opinions of a young man but of about two and twenty years of
▲CClDJdNT. 19
age, it is not improbable, that they were too hastily formed ; but
if, unfortunately for the honour of our infent metropolis, they were
correct, it is some relief to hear, that mercantile integrity, joined
to genuine and unaffected hospitality, was also to be found there,
as appears from the following extract of a letter, dated the 18th
of March, 1731. " Soon afbsr we arrived here, it happened, and
I hope providentially for us, (himself and his father-in-law, Mr.
Emerson, who made one family,) that we rented a house from one
Mr. Peter Baynton, adjacent to his own, who is a considerable
merchant in this city. As he is a man of singular sobriety,, and
not well afiected to the reigning humour in this town, he has ad-
mitted us into his chief confidence, and distinguished us as his
principal fiiends and associates, insomuch that he will enter upon
no project or design in trade, without admittmg us to a share in
it: and frt)m the success of some we have already undertaken,
we have not the least room to doubt of his sincerity and kind-
ness." Such is my father's sketch of Philadelphia manners
eighty years ago.* From the same letter it appears, that at the
instance of this Mr. Baynton, he had contemplated with him a
partnership in trade, to be carried on in the town of Burlington,
which, he observes, ^^ thou^ it be now somewhat obscure, it has
yet many advantages capable of improvement.'^
This contemplated removal, however, did not take place. He
continued in business in Philadelphia, and in the war, probably,
with Spain, which broke out in the year 1741, was concerned
with several of the principal merchants in that city in building
and fitting out the Tartar privateer.f This vessel, supposed to
be the finest, as she was the largest, that had at that time, been
built on thfi Delaware, had a singular fate. On her passage to
the isea, at a fine season of the year, she was lost in the bay. To
make the most of a gentle breeze that was blowing, she was
♦ 1731.
t CommaDded by Capt Maeky. She was launched 24th May, 1744 More
than eighty people were drowned, among whom were Mr. Legate of New Castle,
Capt McKnight of Philadelphia, and Capt Bodeman. She was a sharp-built
vessel, and out of all proportion rigged and masted, and under ballasted. She
oferaet in a moment with but little wind, and went down instanUy. Letter Slat
Inly, 1774, from Lynford Lardner to Richard Peon.
20 FAMILY HISTO&Y.
under full sail, when either from a deficiency of ballast, a dispro-
portion in her rigging, or some other fault in her construction, she
was almost instantaneously overturned by a flaw from the shore.
The greater part of the owners, who had formed a party to see
her out of the capes, were on board, and among them my father.
So mdd was the day, and so* little cause was there for appre-
hension, that he was amusing himself on deck with one of M o-
liere's plays, when the disaster occurred. Finding himself pre-
cipitated among the waves, he immediately seized on a chest that
had floated from the vessel, and placing himself on the middle of it,
its extremities served to support a sailor on each side of him. In
this situation, they were driven at the mercy of the waves for a
considerable time, without any prospect of relief. They were
sometimes about to quit their hold, and at once resign themselves
to a fate, which appeared inevitable. This was peculiarly the
case with one of the sailors, whom my father exerted himself to
the utmost to encourage, since if he had abandoned the chest, it
would have lost its equilibrium, and in the weak, exhausted state
in which they were, they must all have perished. At length, a
vessel hove in sight and appeared to be making towards them :
It proved to be so, and they were taken up while yet enough of
vital power remained, to render the means used for their restora-
tion efficacious. The captain, if I am not mistaken, and the
greater part of the Tartar's crew, were drowned, as were most of
the owners that were on board. Although I have heard my father
relate the circumstances of this misfortune, and have since heard
it spoken of in the family, my recollection of the particulars is
very imperfect.
My mother, the second wife of my father, was the eldest of
four daughters ; she was born in the island of Barbadoes, and
when about seven years of age, was brou^t to Philadelphia by
her parents, who then came to reside in that city. Her father
was a German, born, if I mistake not, in Frankfort on the Maine.
He had been engaged in trade while in Barbadoes, and brought
with him into Pennsylvania, a pretty good property. Her mother
was from Scotland, having first drawn breath in the city of Glas-
gow ; but by what means a pair of so little national affinity as
these my grand parents on the mother's side, were brought to^
FAMILY mSTOKY. 21
gether, I never learned. From their conversaticm, howeyer, I
remember they had resided some time in London, previously to
their settling in Barbadoes. Notwithstanding the apparent want
of associating principles in some respects, they yet agreed very
well : While the tongue of my grandfather faithfiilly retained the
diaracter of its original dialect, that of his spouse, thou^ in a
less degree, bore testimony also, to the countxy of her extraction;
and while he, a determined episcopalian, had his pew in Christ's
church, she, a strict presbyteriao, was a constant attendant at
Buttonwood meeting house. No feuds, however, were engen-
dered by this want of religious conformity ; and if my grandfather
sometimes consented to hear a sermon at the meeting house, it
might be considered as a concession on his part, for a sermon of
archbishop Tillotson, which was regularly read aloud, by one of
the family on Sunday evening. Thou^ a loud talker, and some-
what rough and boisterous in his manner, the old gentleman was at
bottom, highly liberal, benevolent, and good natured. The good
lady, on the other hand, was rather austere ; and the management of
her family, strongly tinctured with the primitive discipline of her
church* Her countenance, on Sunday, always assumed an un-
usual degree of severity, and while under her tutorage, I mi^t
truly say, in the meaning of the poet, it shone no Sabbath day to
me. Then, instead of rest, my labours were augmented ; then
chapters were to be read, and long catechisms to be conned or
repeated. The best things may be overdone ; and the impointion
of hard and unreasonable tasks is more apt to create disgust, than
conciliation to instruction. So, at least, it was with me: I
deemed my tutoress unfeeling and tyrannical, while, by her, I
was considered as reprobate and incorri^ble.
Although my progenitors, on neither side, appear to have pos-
sessed the talent of amassing wealth, there is a circumstance com-
mon to both, which seems unequivocally to indicate liberality and
sincerity of heart. And yet it is a circumstance, which, probably,
would have escaped me, had it not been noticed by my uncle,
by marriage, the late judge Biddle.* Your family, said he one
• Edward Biddle, Esq. Wilkinion, in hU " Memoirs** w&rmly eulogizes him.
*He was a man whose public and private ?lrtues commanded respect, and excited
32 QUAKERS.
day to me, has had an honour which has happened to few, that
of inducing two persons wholly unconnected with you, to at-
tach themselves to you; to make your interests their own, and
without contract or pecuniary tie, to remain with you till their
deaths. One of these was a Scotchman, of the name of Thomas
Gordon, who came into my grandfather's service in Philadelphia,
in the capacity of a clerk, continued with him after he had de-
clined business, and remained among us long after his death,
until the time of his own decease, which happened at Reading,
in the year 1777. He was bom in Aberdeen, and had been bred
to business in a counting-house at Rotterdam. He never was
married. In his latter days, he became a perfect clock in regu-
larity; was a truly honest man, and what will be thought still
better by many, he was a genuine whig of seventy'sixj though
too old or infirm to cany arms in the revolutionary contest. The
other, was a maiden lady of the society of friends, who, upon
occasion of my mother being in want of a female domestic, offered
to assist her for a short time, came into the family soon after I
was bom, and never left it until taken firom us by death, at an
advanced age, in the year 1794. Her name was Ann Burgess ;
she was a •woman of good understanding and reputably con-
nected.
With the exception of the family of Doctor Denormandie, our
own, and perhaps one or two more, the principal inhabitants of
Bristol were Quakers. Among these, the names of Buckley, Wil-
hams, Large, Meritt, Hutchinson and Church, are familiar to me.
The last, bred to the trade of a cooper, but who had put his son
in the business, and employed himself more in the management
admiration from all penronf : He was ipeaker of the last auerobly of Penn.
eylvania under the proprietor/ government, and in the dawn of the Revolation
devoted himself to the cause of his country, and successfully opposed the over-
bearing influences of Joseph Galloway: ardent, eloquent, and full of zeal, by his
exertions, during several days and nights of obstinate, warm and animated discus,
■ion, in extreme sultry weather, he overheated himself, and brought on an inflam-
matory rheamatisffl, which radically destroyed his healtli, and ultimately de-
prived society of one of its greatest ornaments, and his country of a statesman,
a patriot and a soldier; for he had served several campaigns in the war of 1756,
and if his health had been spared, would, no doubt, have occupied the second or
third place in the Revolutionary armies.'*^Eo.
QUAKERS. 523
of a small farm and nursery of finiit trees, was a sincere and steady
friend to our fEonily. He was married to the sister of Ann Bur^
gess, just mentioned, and was a very worthy man, possessing a
good natural understanding, with a strong addiction to philo-
sophical speculations. His attachment to my father went beyond
fiiendsliip : it reached to admiration and veneration. He thought
him, as he has often told me, one of the best and wisest men
that ever lived. I never knew him do a foolish thing, said he^
but once. Upon my asking him what that was; it was, said he,
on occasion of some worthless fellow reporting that he had seen
one or more Indians in the swamp beyond the church, assembling
a body of the militia, of which he was colonel,* and marchiag
out with drums beating, and colours flying, against the supposed
enemy. But this instance is equivocal. Whether my father gave
credit to the report or not, others mi^t, and no doubt did be-
lieve it: It was also incumbent on him to be alert; to inciilcate
that dvfjjf upon his men, and to inure them to alarms : and although
more silence, and less parade, might have been more truly miU-
taiy, yet something of the ^^ pride, pomp, and circumstance of
glorious war," is allowable to militia, particularly to a body
which had certainly never encountered an enemy. Besides, to
the calm incredulity of friend Church upon this occasion, we
mi^t perhaps safely add, a little both of the spirit of party and
of quakerism. The people of his society, from principles averse
from war, were charged with being too friendly to the Indians ;
with being too ready to palliate their enormities, and conse-
quently, indisposed to listen to the alarming accounts, which the
panic produced by Braddock's defeat, had spread throughout the
country. By this event, every obstacle to their incursions being
removed, in the minds of the timid they were to be looked for
* In Franklin and HaU'i Gazette of February 9th, 1747,eiffht of the officers of
Backs oountj it is there stated — Alexander Grajdon, Captain; Anthony Denor.
mandie, Lieutenant ; James Barker, Ensig^n. In the same paper of the 15th March,
iame year, it is farther stated — Superior officers of a regiment in Bucks county,
Alexander Gray don, Esq., Colonel, Matthew Hughes, Esq., Lieutenant Colonel;
John Denormandie, Esq., Major, fie was also recommended in a nomination
fat a field officer in the Provincial Corps raising in 1758, but he declined the ap-
pointment See his letter in Appendix.
24
DOTE.
€Teiy where. From the consternation that prevailed, I can still
recollect, that the horrors of a discomfiture by such a foe, were
among my most early and lively impressions. To the terrors of
the tomahawk and the scalping knife, the imagination adds the
savage yells, the gloomy woods and dismal swamps, which are
their usual accompaniments; and, hence, minds that have been
deeply impressed by the fatal fields of Braddock and St. Clair,
are well prepared for the sombre interest imparted by Tacitus's
affecting description of that of Varus, visited after an interval of
six years, by Germanicus : — Occulta stUtuumy mastoSy locos y visuque
ac memoria deformes. Medio campi albeniia ossoy uijugerunty ut
restUerunt disjecta vel aggerata. ^^ Those deep and dreary re*
cesses, hideous both to sight and memory; with the whitening
bones, scattered or heaped together, as either they belonged to
those who fell in flight, or met their fate resisting."
There being no traces in my memory, of any incidents worthy
of remark, during the period of my infancy, I pass on to the era
of my removal to Philadelphia, for the sake of my education.
This, I suppose to have been, between my sixth and seventh
year. I recollect litde or nothing of going to school at Bristol,
farther than that there was one, and the master's name Pinker-
ton, a kind, good himioured Irishman, firom whom I might have
learned, that as one thing was crud big, so another might be cruel
little. In the city, I lived with, and was under the care of my
grandfather. The school he first put me to, was that of David
James Dove, an Englishman, and much celebrated in his day, as
a teacher, and no less as a dealer in the minor kind of satirical
poetry. To him were attributed some political effusions in this
way, which ware thought highly of by his party, and made a good
deal of noise. He had also made some figure, it seems, in the
old world, being spoken of, as I have heard, though in what way
I know not, having never seen the work, in a book, entitied — ^The
Life and Adventures of the Chevalier Taylor.* As the story went,
* Tbif WM Taylor the ooculif t, Bpoken of in Bo0weIl*B life of Johneon, and
who, though sprightl/i wasi according to the doctor, an instanoe how far impa-
deoce could cany ignotancok He challenged me once to talk Latin with him,
■aya the doctor. I quoted aome of Horacci which he took to he my own apeech.
He aaid a ft w worda well enough*
SCHOOL DISCZPLmE. 25
some one reading this performance to Mr. Dove on its first ap-
pearance, -mih the mischievous design of amusing himself at his
expense, as he knew what the book contained, he (Dove) bore
testimony to the truth of the contents, with which, he said^ he
was perfectly acquainted, exclaiming, as the reader went along,
true, true as the gospel! but when the part was reached, in which
he himself is introduced in a situation somewhat ridiculous, he
cried out, it was a lie, a most abominable lie, and that there was
not a syllable of truth in the story. At any rate. Dove was a hu-
mourist, and a person not unlikely to be engaged in ludicrous
scenes. It was his practice in his school, to substitute disgrace
for corporal punishment. His birch was rarely used in canonical
method, but was generally stuck into the back pairt of the collar
of the unfortunate culprit, who, with this badge of disgrace tow-
ering from his nape like a broom at the mast-head of a vessel fot
sale, was compelled to take his stand upon the top of the form,
for such a period of time, as his offence was thought to deserve.
He had another contrivance for boys who were late in their morn-*
ing attendance. This was to despatch a committee of five or six
scholars for them, with a bell and lighted lantern, and in this
"odd equipage," in broad day light, Ae bell all the while ting-
ling, were they escorted through the streets to school. As Dove
affected a strict regard to justice in his dispensations of punish-
ment, and always professed a willingness, to have an equal mea-
sure of it meted out to himself in case of his transgressing, the
boys took him at his word ; and one mOming) when he had over-"
staid his time, either through laziness, inattention, or design, he
found himself waited on in the Usual form. He immediately ad'^
mitted the justice of the procedure, and putting himself behind
the lantern and bell, marched with great solemnity to school, to
the no small gratification of the boys, and entertainment of the
spectators. But this incident took place before I became a scho-
lar. It was once my lot to be attended in this manner, but what
had been sport to my tutor, was to me a serious punishment.
The school was, at tins time, kept in Videll^s alley, which
opened into Second, a little below Chesnut street. It counted a
number of scholars of both sexes, though chiefly boys; and the
assistant, or writing mastei^, was John Reily, a very expert pen-
3
26 ACADEMY — ^IK)yE^-<r&ABIiES THOBCSON.
man and conveyancer, a man of some note, -who, in his gayer
moods affected a pompous and tecbnical phraseology, as he is
characterized under the name of Parchment, in a farce written
some forty years ago, and whidi, having at least the merit of no-
velty and personality, was a very popular drama, though never
brought upon the stage. Some years afterwards, Dove removed
to Germantown, where he erected a large stone building, in the
view of establishing an academy upon a large scale ; but I be-
lieve his success was not answerable to his expectations. I know
not what my progress was under the auspices of Mr. Dove, but
having never in my early years, been smitten with the bve of
learning, I have reason to conclude, it did not pass mediocrity.
I recollect a circumstance, however, which one afternoon took
place at my grandfather's, to the no small entertainment of the old
gendeman,who often adverted to it afterwards* Dove was there,
and in endeavouring to cocrect my utterance, as I had an: ill habit
of speaking with my teeth closed, as if indifferent whether I spoke
or not, he bawled out in one of his highest tones: ^^ Why don't
you speak louder? open your mouth like a Dutchman — say
yaw.''''
Being now, probably, about eight years of age, it was deemed
expedient to enter me at the academy, then,, as it now continues
* This Dove was a BoHriedl poet, and has been described by Jud^ Peters, an
early pupil of his, as a ** sarcastical and ill-tempered doggerelizer, who was bnt
ironically IIom ; for his temper wa» that of a hawlc, and his pen the beak of a fal-
con pouncing on innocent prqr.**
He became, says Watson, a teacher of langoafss in the PhiladelphiA Acade*
my, and was chiefly conspicuous for the part he took in the politics of the day,
and by his caustic rhymes in ridicule of his opponents, ho wrote poetical illas-
trations to accompany the caricatures which abounded in his time, and was, him-
•elf, in tumi a rich subject for the oarioaturist Watson records a charmctaristic
anecdote of Charles Thomson, secretary to the Congress of 1776. When young,
Thomson resided in the family of Dove, who, with hb wife, was much addicted
to scandal^ a propensity in the highest degree offensive to the honourable nature
of tlie future secretary. Wishing to leave them, but dreading their tongues, he
adopted an ingenious expedient to prevent their injurious exercise. He gravely
inquired of them one evening, if his oonduet, as a boarder, had been satis&ctDry
to them. They promptly replied in the affirmative. Would yon, then, asked
Thomson, be willing to give me a certificate to that eflfect 7 ** O, certamly.** A
ocrtifieate was aeootdingly given, and the next day he parted from them in
ps9U3e<^fiD»
ANECDOTE. 27
to be, under the name of a university, the principal seminary in
Pennsylvania; and I was accordingly introduced by my father, to
Mr. Kinnesley, the teacher of English and professor of oratory.
He was an Anabaptist clergyman, a large, venerable looking man,
of no great general erudition, thou^ a considerable proficient in
electricity; and who, whether truly or not, has been said to have
had a share in certain discoveries in that science, of whidi Doc-
tor Franklin received the whole credit* The task, of the younger
boys, at least, consisted in learning to read and to write their mo-
ther tongue grammatically ; and one day in the week (I think
Friday) was set apart for the reoitationof select passages in poetry
and prose. For this purpose, each scholar, in his turn, ascended
the stage, and said his speech, as the phrase was. This speech
was carefully taught him by his master, both with respect to its
pronunciation, and the aotion deemed suitable to its several parts.
Two of these specimens of infantile oratory to the disturbance of
my repose, I had been qualified to exhibit; Family partiality, no
doubt, overrated their merit; and hence, my declaiming powers
were in a state of such constant requisition^ that my orations, like
worn out ditties, beoame vapid and fatiguing to me ; and conse-
quently, impaired my relish for that kind of acquirement. More
profit attended my reading* After ^sop's fables, and an abridge-
ment of the Boman histoty, Telemachus was put into our hands;
and if it be admitted that the human heart may be bettered by
instruction, mine, I may aver, was benefited by this work of the
virtuous Fenelon. While the mild wisdom of Mentor called
forth my veneration, the noble ardour of the youthful hero excited
my sympathy and emulation. I took part, like a second fiiend,
in the vicissitudes of his fortune, I participated in his toils, I
warmed with his exploits, I wept where he wept, and exulted
where he triumphed.
As my lot has been cast in a turbulent period, in a season of
civil war and revolution, succeeded by scenes of domestic discord
and fury, in all of which I have been compiled to take a part, I
deem it of consequence to myself, to bespeak toleration for the
detail of a school-boy incident, that may in some degree serve to
develope my character. It may equally tend to throw some lig^t
on the little world, upon whose stage I had now entered. A few
28 ANECDOTE.
days after I had been put under the care of Mr. Kinnerdey, I was
told by my class-mates, that it was necessary for me to fight a
batde with some one, in order to establish my claim to the ho-
nour of being an academy boy: that this could not be dispensed with,
and that they would select for me a suitable antagonist, one of my
makhj whom after school I must fight, or be looked upon as a
coward. I must eonfess, that I did not at all relish the proposal.
Though possessing a sufficient degree of spirit, or at least irasci-
bility, to defend myself when assaulted, I had never been a boxer.
Being of a light and slender make, I was not calculated for the
business, nor had I ever been ambitious of being the cock of a
school. Besides, by the laws of the institution I was now a subject
of, fighting was a capital crime ; a sort of felony deprived of
clei^, whose punishment was not to be avMted by the most
scholar-like reading. For these reasons, both of which had suffi-
cient weigikt with me, and the last not the least, as I had never
been a wilful transgressor of rules, or callous to the consequences
of an infiraction of them, I absolutely declined the proposal ; al-
though I had too much of that feeling about me, which some
might call false honour, to represent the case to the master, which
would at once have extricated me firom my difficulty, and brought
down condign punishment on its imposers. Matters thus went
on until school was out, when I found that the lists were appoint-
ed, and that a certain John Appowen, a lad who, though not quite
so tall, yet better set and older than myself, was pitted against me.
With increased pertinacity I again refused the combat, and insist-
ed on being permitted to go home unmolested. On quickening
my pace for this purpose, my persecutors, with Appowen at their
head, followed close at my heels. Upon this I moved faster and
&ster, until my retreat became a flight too unequivocal and in-
glorious for a man to relate of himself, had not Homer furnished
some apology for the procedure, in making the heroic Hector
thrice encircle the walls of Troy, before he could find courage to
encounter the implacable AchUius. To cut the story short, my
spirit could no longer brook an oppression so intolerable, and
stung to the quick at the term coward which was lavished upon
me, I made a halt and faced my pursuers. A combat immedi-
ately ensued between Appowen and myself, which for some time.
KARLT iJIVENTUKg, 29
was mauitained (m each side, Avith equal vigour and determina*
tion, when unluckily, I received his fist directly in my gullet.
The blow for a time depriving^ me of breath, and the power of re-
sistance, victory declared for my adversary, though not without
die admawledgment of the party, that I had at last behaved well,,
and shown myself not unworthy the name of an academy boy.
Being' thus established, I had no more battles imposed upon me„
and none that I can recollect of my own provoking; for I have a
ri^t to declare, that my general deportment was correct and un«
offending, though extremely obstinate and unyielding under a
sense of injustice.* I gave an early instance of this, in once
bumii^ the rod. with which my&ther hud corrected me; and
upon his finding it out, and coirecting me a second time, I de-^
dared I would drown myself, and ran towards a cve^ in a
meadow not far off, with such an appearance of determination to
execute the threat, that he thought proper to despatch a servant
after me in haste ; and upon my being brou^ back, rather to
yidd to the violence of my temper, than persist in the attempt to
subdue it.
In saying my resistsmce proceeded hen a sense of injustice, I
would by no means have it understood, that my father had been
culpable. I rather suppose,, that a too ardent idea of the rights of
a child, had led me to consider that conduct oppressive,, which
was merely the effict of a patemal concern for my welfare.
While upon the topic of those early adventures, by whidi we
are initiated into the ways of the world, I may mention a circum-
stance of another natuxe, which happened not very long after my
arrival in the city. One evenings about dusk, I was amusing myself
on the pavement before the door, with some- marbles ; for having*
never been very stioi^ty incited by a spirit of gambling, I fire*
quently played alone, and even when i had a companion I gene-«
* Tlie poi^fDEDcy of my- feelings oa socb occMioiu^ bat* smn me a degree of
veneration far justice which I have rarely diecevered in others. Nor has my
own mterest or that of my connexioDS or ooiuitry, ever led me to espouse their'
euve^ whea ansapported by right. Hence,. I ean never be a patriot tn the mo<-
dera aeoeptalion of the word ; more eepeeialiy,. as in siftbig the merits of a eaosei.
I have a most unlucky propensity of referring all acts of snfasequent aggression
to fe original wrong. A monstrous supererogation of morality this^ in the* e^ipes.
of oftliodoz patriotbm.
3*
30 EARLY CHA&ACTEB.
rally preferred playing infim^ to speak technically, to playing tn
earnest. A little, skulking rogue, with whom I had no kind of
acquaintance, came up to me, and as he joined me in play with
some marbles of his qwn, he took occasion to observe, that his
were too small for him, but as mine, on the contrary, were large
and exactly suited to his hand, he proposed an exchange, oflering
me the odds, first, of two, and then of three for one. Having no
disposition to traffic with him, being pleased with my own and
satisfied with their number, I at first objected to his proposal, but
he pressed me in so earnest a manner to accommodate him with
but a part of mine, that after some hesitation, I oonsoited. With*
out giving me time fbr a resumption of my first determination, he
picked up six or eight of my marbles, and tibvowing me down three
or four times the number of his own^ the amount of boot being
apparently wholly unworthy of caleuktion, he decamped in a
twinkling. Upon gathering up the commodities I had received in
such abund<u»iee, I fouiud th^m rath» light; and on closer inac-
tion, discovered, that as they had been; but clay in the hands of
the potter, so I had been an equally ductile material in the hands
of a swindler. These things are but puerilities, and very trifles, it
is true, but cw it be said that they axe irrelative to the objects I
$et out witb.^ And aice they not prototypes of the transactions,
which the mpre iiiq)ortant scene of man eveiy day ^diibits? If
swindling and oppression beset us in infiamcy, dees experience
warrant us. in affirming that the state of maidiood is exempt from
them?
Mi^t I here be pasdoned a brief recognition of tde qualities my
childhood had unfolded, I might say, that, with a sufficient share
of obstinacy and impatience of control, I had never manifested a
propensity to mischief; and though I might sometimes have been
a foUowec, I had never promoted or been a leader in those pranloB
which are denominated unlucky : Thank Heaven, I had never been
guUty of a trick, and rarely, if ever j of a lie. I had no cimning,
and consequently, gaye ao token of those talents which mi^t
qualify me, one day, to rise in a commonwealth. On a scrutiny,
therefore, of my character, the possibility might have been inferred,
tfitt in an evil hour and at a riper age, my passions might have hur-
tled m.e into acts of fatal rashness, as, under better staiSj^ they mig^t
EARLY CHAAACTEB. 31
have impelled me into the path of a Hampden; but, that in no
situation, I could have trod the track of a Gracchus or a Dnisus.
The Gracchi fond of mischief making lawa»
And Drnsi popular in faction's canse.
Neither could the unshrinking determination which must enter into
the composition of a Brutus, have justly been imputed to me ; not
even on the specious ground of pubUc good : my stuff was not so
stem.
My amusements, as I have already said, depended much upon
myself. I had a passion for drawing; and my early essays were
considered as. indications of much genius for the art. I was in
the practice also, of cutting men and horses out of cards. By
separating the legs of the bipeds, I mounted them without diffi-
culty ; and by a similsor process on those of the quadrupeds, I
could give them a firm stand on a table. By these means I could
either send them a himting with, a pack of hounds, in like manner
set upon their feet, or attach unmounted Worses to sleighs or wheel
carriages (all df which I manufactured) at pleasure. My talent
also gave me the command of regiments of cavalry, and my even-
ings, when there was no company ,^ were generally employed in ar-
ranging them in order of battle. Divided into two bodies, they were
disposed in hostile array, while round pieces of card representing
cannon balls, were the missiles alternately thrown at the different
corps ; that side being held to be defeated, which was first battered
dovm. It was truly a war o£ extermination, as the vanquished
were always cut ofi' to a man. Both my grandfather and grand*
mother, as well as my aunts, were pleased with my exhibitions ;
and it became a matter of doubt in the fiunily, whether my genius
most inclined me to the profession of a limner or a general.
Music, too, was an art for which Thad discovered a propensity,
and had already the enthusiasm of an amaimr. From the drums
and fifes o£ Otway's regiment, which, every moming passed our
door, I had, ammig other tunes, learned the grenadier'^s marcii ; and
I remember one day being on a visit to- my father, who then
resided in the countiy at a place of Doctor Denormandie's, as I
was .whistling it with great devotion, and marching to it in proper
time, he was delighted with the truthof my eat and the correctness
32 ADDISON — BALLAD.
of my pcrformaDce: For he was much of a musical man, and
played upon the violin, though, as I hare been informed by one
of his old friends, with more of science than execution.
Another circumstance of some affinity to the topic, I cannot
withhold, since it is an evidence of my coincidence in taste with
the celebrated Mr. Addison. I have somewhere seen it mentioned,
that he was a warm admirer of the ballad of Salley of the alley. I
once, when very yoimg, heard my mother sing it over a cradle,
and was so enraptured with its simple pathos, that I was continually
importuning her to repeat it. Whether it was the composition or
the melody which had charmed me, I know not, but to my infant
heart it appeared inimitably tender and affecting. The only verse
I recoUect of it is the following: —
Of all the days within the week»
I dearly love but one day.
And that's the day that comes between
Satordajl and Monday :
For then I*m drest
All m by best,
To waUi abroad with Sally,
She is the darling of my heart
And lives in oar alley..
Though an old ballad, it is possible that it may be yet so well
known as to render this recital unnecessary, if not to give it an
appearance of triteness. At any rate, I should hardly have ven-
tured to notice it had it not be^i dignified by the approbation of
ft respectable name.*
* The author of the Ballad was Henry Carey, translator of Dante, and a popu-
lar English poet ** The works of Carey do not appear in any of oar great ool*
leotions, where Walsh^ Dake, and Yalden slomber on the shel£ Yet Carey was
a trae son of the muses, and a most successful writer. To this ballad of * Sally in
our alley,* he prefixed an argument so fulT of nature, that the song may derife
an additional interest from its simple origin. The author assures the reader that
the popular notion* tiiat the subject of his ballad had been the noted SaUy Salia-
bory, is perfectly erroneous, he being a stranger to her name at the time the song
was composed.
** As innocence and virtue were ever the boundaries of his muse, so in this litUe
poem he had no otiier view than to set forth the beanty of a chaste and dislnte-
nstedpanionefen in thnloweit class of homan life.. The real oocatton was this:
33
It was some time before my entering into the Latin school, that
I had the misfortune to loose my father. This was in March,
1761. He had just finished a country house on a favourite spot,
sufficiently elevated to overlook the adjacent district for some
miles round, and to command a view of the town of Bristol, dis-
tant not quite a mile, as well as that of Burlington, together with
an extensive intervening tract of meadow ground, stretching to
ttie shore of the Delaware, whose bright expanse was also subject-
ed to the eye. He had long been improving the site before he
began to build ; had planted it with the best fruits in every kind,
and given to it the style of embellishment, both with respect to
the disposition of the grounds and the trees, which was at that
time in fashion. But this residence, at once so cherished and de-
lightful, he was permitted to enjoy not quite a year. The blow
was desolating to my mother, " whose heart was apt to feel ;" and
who, in addition to the calamity of being bereaved of one with
whom her union had been happiness uninterrupted, found herself
at about the age of two and thirty, solely involved in the cares of
a young family of four children, of whom I, about to complete my
ninth year, was the eldest. To me, who was at home when the
event took place, it was rather a shock than a matter of poignant
grief. It was the first death that had been brought home to me ;
and the deep distress of the family, together with the dismal ap-
paratus of coffins and hearses, could not fail to overwhelm me in
the general gloom. The next day I was sent to Philadelphia,
whither the remains of my father, attended by his &ithful and de-
jected firiend Joseph Church, were conveyed for interment. As
funeral honours upon these occasions, are the only solace of the
A shoemaker's *prentioe, making holy-day with his sweetheart, treated her with
a sight of Bedlam, the puppet-shows, the flying-chairs, and all the elegaDciea of
Moorfields ; whence proceeding to the Farthing Pie-house, he gave her a coUec*
tion of bans, cheese-cakes, gammon of bacon, stuffed beef, and bottled ale; through
lU which scenes the author dodged them (charmed with the simplicity of tlieir
oourtship,) whence he drew this little sketch of nature ; but, being then young
tBd obscure, he was very much ridiculed for this performance; which, neverthless,
made its way into the polite world, and tuDply recompensed him by the applause
of the di?ine Addison, who was pleased, more than once, to mention it with ap-
probation.**— />*/srae{t*s CclamUie9 of Author:— Ed.
34 LATIN SCHOOL.
afflictedi they were here bestowed with an unsparing hand. Much
pomp was shown, and much expense incurred, both of which
would have been saved had the will of the deceased, which en-
joined a plain and economical burial, been previously opened.
The pall, sustained by six of his old city friends, I followed as
chief mourner, and saw the body deposited in the grave ]rard of
Market street meeting-house, in or near the tomb wherein his
first wife had been laid. My father, as already mentioned, came
to this country a married man, and was about twenty years older
than my mother. Though he died possessed of a laj^ and
valuable landed property in the neighbourhood of Bristol, con-
sisting of an equal part of one thousand acres, purchased in con-
junction with Mr. M'llvaine in the year 1752 of William Whita-
ker of London, it was encumbered ; and the provision, made ne-
cessary by a settlement on his first marriage, for two children, who
were the issue of it, rendered the residue inadequate to the sup-
port of his widow and her children. Hence, a removal of the &-
mily to Philadelphia became expedient, and was resolved on as
soon as the requisite arrangements could be made ; and it accord-
ingly took place in the course of the year.*
* I was nnwilliDg to enlarge on the topic of my family, or I might have said
a great deal more of my father. From the enthnaiaam with which I have heard
him fpoken of by some who knew him, I have reason to infer, that he was not
only a man of unqoestionable probity, bat that there was, also, mneh of attraction
in his character. Among his qaalities, was that of a singularly clear and har-
monious voice, which he frequenUy exercised in reading aloud. His choice of
books for this purpose, often fell upon Telemaehes, Don Quixote, and Shakspeare,
passages from aU of which, I remember to have heard him read; particularly the
opening of the first, which introduces the disconsolate Calypso with her attendant
nymphs, and the two strangers just shipwrecked on her isle, and to which he
gave aU the romantic melancholy and pathos that belong to iL From Don Quix-
ote, the mad attack on the wiod-mills and the sheep, by his elevated voice and
theatrical manner, for he really acted the passages, lost nothing of the animation
originally impressed upon them by their inimitable author. Nor was Shakspeare
more a sufferer in his hands. Parts of his Henry IV. I have heard him read, and
also of his Julius Cossar, in which the speech of Marcellus the Tribune, begin-
ning
** Wherefore rejoice, what conquests brings he home ?
What tributaries follow him to Rome, &c.*'
from the uncommon energy of his manner of reciting it, is particularly impressed
on my mind. I have understood from my mother that he had been a member of
LATIir SCHOOL. 36
I hacye sakL that I was about to enter the Latin school. The
person whose pupil I was consequently to become, was Mr. John
Bereridge, a native of Scotland, who retained the smack of his
vernacular tongue in its primitiye purity. His acquaintance widi
die language he tang^t, was, I believe, justly deemed to be very
accurate and profound. But as to his other acquirements, after
excepting the game of backgammon, in which he was said to ex-
cel, truth will not warrant me in saying a great deal. He was,
however^ diligent and laborious in his attention to his school ; afid
had he possessed the faculty of making himself beloved by tiie
scholars, and of exciting^ their emulation and exertion, nothing
would have been wanting in him to an entire qualification for his
oflice. But, unfortunately, he had no dignity of character, and was
no less destitute of the art of making himself respected than be-
loved. Though not perhaps to be complained of as intolerably
severe, he yet made a pretty free use of the ratan and the ferule,
but to very little purpose. He was in short no disciplinarian, and
consequently very unequal to the management of seventy or eighty
boys, many of whom were superlatively pickle and unruly. He
was assisted, indeed, by two ushers, who eased him in the bur-
den of teaching, but who, in matters of discipline, seemed disin«-
dined to interfere, and disposed to consider themselves rather as
subjects than rulers. I have seen them slily slip out of the vmj
when the principal was entering upon the job of capitally punish-
ing a boy, who firom his size, would be likely to make resistance.
For diis had become neariy a matter of course ; and poor Beve-
ridge, who was diminutive in his stature, and neither young nor
vigorous, after exhausting himself in the vain attempt to denude
the delinquent, was generally glad to compound for a few strokes
over his clothes, on any part that was accessible. He had, in-
deed, so firequently been foiled, that his birch at length was rarely
brought forth, and might truly be said to have lost its terrors — ^it
was tanquam gladiumin vagina reposUum. He indemnified him-
self, however, by a redoubled use of his ratan.
a enifsnatioa and reading dab in Philadelphia, in which the task of reading a
new book was always deYol?ed on him when preaent, and that, in thie capacity,
Toang*t Night Thoughts, on their coming oat, were read by him to the com-
pany.
96 ANECDOTES OF MB. BEVERIDGE.
So entire ivas the want of respect towards him, and so liable
was he to be imposed upon, that one of the larger boys, for a
wager, once pulled off his wig, which he efiected by suddenly
twitching it from his head under pretence of brushing from it a
spider; and the unequivocal insult was only resented by the
peevish exclamation othoot numt
Various were the rogueries that were played upon him ; but
the most audacious of all was the following. At the hour of con-
vening in the afternoon, that being found the most convenient,
from the circumstance of Mr. Beveridge being usually a little be-
yond the time ; the bell having rung, die ushers being at their
posts, and the scholars arranged in their classes, three or four of
the conspirators conceal themselves without, for the purpose of
observing the motions of their victim. He arrives, enters the
school, and is permitted to proceed until he is supposed to have
nearly reached his chair at the upper end of the room, when in-
stantly the door and every window-shutter is closed. Now,
dirouded in utter darkness, the most hideous yells that can be
conceived, are sent forth from at least three score of throats; and
Ovids, and Viigils, and Horaces^ together with the more heavy
metal of dictionaries, whether of Cole, of Young, or of Ainsworth,
are hurled without remorse at the head of the astonished pre-
ceptor, who, on his side, groping and crawling under cover of
the forms, makes the best of his way to the door. When attained,
and light restored, a death-like silence ensues. Every boy is at
his lesson ; no one has had a hand or a voice in the recent atro-
city: what then is to be done, and who shall be chastised.
Savit airox Vokcens^ nee tdi canspicU usquam
Auchremj nee quo se ardens immittere possit.
Fierce VotioeiM foama with rage, and gaiing round
Defcries not him who aimM the iktal wound ;
Nor knows to fix revenge. —
This most intolerable outrage, from its succeeding beyond ex-
pectation, and being entirely to the taste of the school, had a run
of several days; and was only then put a stop to by the inter-
ference of theybcufty, who decreed the most exemplary punish-
SINGULAR PETITION. 37
ment on those who should be found offending in the premises,
and by takrog measures to prevent a farther repetition of the
enormity.
I have said| and with truth, that I was no promoter of mis-
chief; but I will not take upon me to assert, that I was proof
against the irresistible contagion of such a scene, or that I did
not raise my Toice in the discordant concert of the screamers :
though I can safely declare, that I never 'threw at the master,
and that I was wholly ignorant of the contrivers and ringleaders
of this shameful proceeding.
In the year 1765, Mr. Beveridge published by subscription a
small collection of Latin poems. Of their general merit I pre-
sume not to judge, but I think I have heard they were not much
commended by the British reviewers. The latinity probably-is
pure, the prosody correct, the versification sufficiently easy and
sounding, and such as might serve to evince an intimate acquaint-
ance with the classics of ancient Rome : But I should doubt their
possessing much of the soul of poetry. One of them is neither
more nor less than an humble petition in hexamaters, and cer-
tainly a very curious specimen of pedantic mendicity. It is ad-
dressed to Thomas Penn, the proprietary of Pennsylvania ; and
the poet very modestly proposes, that he should bestow upon
him a few of his acres, innumerable, he observes, as the sands of
the Delaware ; in return for which, his verse shaU do its best to
confer immortal fame upon the donor. By way of farther induce-
ment to the gift, he sets before his excellency the usual ingrati-
tude of an enriched and unknown posterity, on the one hand ;
and on the other, the advantage which Ajax, i^neas and Msce-
nas derived from the muses of Homer, of Virgil and Horace. But
lest I might be suspected of misrepresentation, let my good
quondam preceptor speak for himself.
Jugcra quum tibi sint qaot habet Delavarub arenas.
Quid magnnm mmimo tribuai si propria parvoc.
Faodamenta cane, Boreas quh. frigora pellam.
Non dabiB ingrato dederis licet sris egeno,
QaodqDc tibi minimum, magaam easet pauca roganti.
Sin renoas, tanti nee sint commercia nostra,
Hoc quoqae ne pigeat clto spem proDoidere vanam.
4
38 bevebidge's poebcs.
Keo periiBse p«ta, dederii quod ▼ivna amioo ;
Credere fki sit enim, si qtiid mea eaxmtna possint,
f3era lioet, majora feras qaam Mkxioo oobia,
Sea Tagaa anriferii exandans mittit arenit ;
Anguror et si quid vives post fata auperstea.
Quid juvat igDotia^ io^ratis forsitan, aari
Pondera^ frugiferis vel millia jugera campis
Lioquere poet natis ? Nequeunt nam prodere fiunam
DiVitio, nequeunt titulia monumenta anperbia.
Quid foret ^neaa, et magni nominis Ajaz«
Atque alii quorum aunt nomina multa viromm;
Ni foret et vates divini carmtnia auctor
Meooidea« aacro qui primua Tertice Pindi
Deduxit facilea Phoebo plaudente, CamoBnaa?
Vel quid Mecenaa animi mentiaque hemgtM
Ni benefacta aui celebraaaet carmen Horatio
Et Maro munificum ceciniaaet gratua amicum 7 See, Slc
Might not one here be tempted to exclaim in the spirit of Prior
to Boileau!
Pindar, that eagle moimta the akiea.
While virtue leads the noble way : •
Too like a Tulture Bev^ridge fliea
Where aordid intVeat lurea the prey.
1 never heard, however, that the poet was the better for his appli^-
cation: I rather think that the proprietor was of opinion, there
was a want of reciprocity m the proposal, and that, whatever the
carmen Horati vel Maroms might have been worth, that of Mr.
Beveridge did not amount to a very valuable consideration.
Another of the principal poems in this collection is a pastoral,
which, if Mr. Beveridge had had the salutary fear of Boileau be-
fore his eyes, he certainly would not have written; since, never
was production more completely under the lash of the following
satirical lines.
Viendrai-je, eu one Eglogue entour^ de troapeanz
An milieu de Paria enfler mea chalumeauz,
Et dana mon cabinet aaaia an pied dea h^trea,
Faire dire auz eehos dei aotUaea champdtres 7
bbteridge's poems. 39
The complainant in this pastoral is an Edinburgh cit, whom he
appropriately calls Urbanus: nevertheless he is, without the small*
est difficulty, transformed into a shepherd, surrounded with sheep,
and proclaiming to the echoes his sotHses champetres^ in strains
like these —
Audiit et plaDCtiu gemebunda remarmarat £«cho.
Echo Bola meo9 miserata est, inquit amorea ;
Triatia nam mnstis ex saxia aasonat imis,
Flebile loetisonia retponaat et uaque cicatUi.
Me miaeram quotiea exclamo, Ingabria Ula
Me miBeram ingeminat gelidia e Yallibua ; Eheo,
Clamanti ezclamat, repetitia yocibua, Ebea !
But after all, it is perhaps too much to expect from a modem,
good Latin, good poetry, and good sense, all at the same time.
As it frequently happens in human affairs, that men are mis^
placed, and that those found in a subordinate station are better
fitted for the supreme authority than those who are invested with
it, so it generally was in the Latin school of the academy. The
ushers, during the term of my pupilage, a period of four years, or
more, were often changed ; and some of them, it must be admitted,
were insignificant enough; but others, were men of sense and re-
spectability, to whom, on a comparison with the principal, the
management of the school might have been committed with much
advantage. Among these was Mr. Patrick Allison, afterwards
officiating as a Presbyterian clergyman in Baltimore ; Mr. James
Wilson, late one of the associate justices of the supreme court of
the United States; and Mr. John Andrews, afterwards Doctor An*
drews of the University of Pennsylvania. It is true, they were
much younger men than Mr. Beveridge, and probably unequal
adepts in the language that was taught; but even on the supposi-
tion of this comparative deficiency on their part, it would have
been amply compensated on the score of judicious discipline and
instruction.
With respect to my progress and that of the class to which I
belonged, it was reputable and perhaps laudable for the first two
years. From a pretty close application, we were well grounded
in grammar, and had passed through the elementary books, much
to tlie approbation of our teachers; but at length, with a single
40 PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY.
exception, we became possessed of the demons of liberty and
idleness. We were, to a great degree, impatient of the restraints
of a school ; and if we yet retained any latent sparks of the emu-
lation of improvement, we were, unfortunately, never favoured
with the collision that could draw them forth. We could feel-
ingly have exclaimed with Louis the fourteenth, mats a quoi sert
de lire ! but where's the use of all this pouring over books! One
boy thought he had Latin enough, as he was not designed for a
learned profession; his father thought so too, and was about
taking him from school. Another was of opinion that he might
be much better employed in a counting-house, and was also about
ridding himself of his scholastic shackles. As this was a con-
summation devoutly wished by us all, we cheerfully renounced the
learned professions for the sake of the supposed liberty that would
be the consequence. We were all, therefore, to be merchants,
as to be mechanics was too humiliating; and accordingly, when
the question was proposed, which of us would enter upon the
study of Greek, the grammar of which tongue was about to be
put into our hands, there were but t>^'0 or three who declared for
it. As to myself, it was my mother's desire, from her knowing
it to have been my father's intention to give me the best educa-
tion the country afforded, that I should go on, and acquire every
language and science that was taught in the institution; but, as
my evil star would have it, I was thoroughly tired of books and
confinement, and her advice and even entreaties were overruled
by my extreme repugnance to a longer continuance in the college,
which, to my lasting regret, I bid adieu to when a litde turned of
fourteen, at the very season when the minds of the studious be-
gin to profit by instruction. We were at this time reading Horace
and Cicero, having passed through Ovid, Virgil, Cassar, and Sal-
lust. From my own experience on this occasion, I am mclined
to think it of much consequence, that a boy designed to com-
plete his college studies, should be classed with those of a similar
destination.
Of a dozen or more class-mates, the lapse of more than forty
years, puts it out of my power to recognise more than three of
them, who are yet alive; though there may be others; settled at
a distance. One of those, who was the exception to the idle pro-
41
pensity I have mentioned, has lately filled an important office in
the state ; another of them, though a boy of good parts and much
vivacity, early betook himself to a very retired walk of life, fi-om
which he never emerged ; and the third, with whom I have ever
continued in the closest intimacy and friendship, leads, in ease
and affluence on his paternal estate, the happy life of a country
gentleman, within a convenient distance of the metropolis.
In making this enumeration, there occurs to me a member who
joined us perhaps about a year before I left the college. I cannot call
him a boy, since he was married, and for ought I know, between
thirty and forty years of age. His puckered cheeks, at least,
would have justified the latter part of this conjecture. He was
preparing himself for the pulpit of an anabaptist meeting-house,
and although the acquisition of his Latin was sufficiently arduous
in all conscience, he was yet courageous enough to be looking
forward to the attainment also of the Greek and the Hebrew.
With a rueful length of visage and features of the coursest mould,
his figure was tall, raw-boned and ungainly, and certainly a very
heterogeneous ingredient in the mass in which he had chosen to
compound it. But he was not more distinguished by the uncouth-,
ness of his appearance than by the meekness of his deportment.
It was of the back of this overgrown school-boy that Beveridge
usually strove to avail himself, in those abortive, flagellant efforts
I have mentioned ; and the function, however unpleasing to the
Brobdingnagian, he had too strong a sense of duty to decline.
Such was th^ personage, who, from a clerical ardour, had been
tempted to transform himself into this scholastic phenomenon^
His name, I tjiink, was Stevens; and though I have amused my-»
self with the recollection of his ludicrous attributes, it is with still
more satisfaction I bear testimony to those, that, from their simple
benevolence, were truly respectable.
4*
42 RETBOspficmrE events, &c.
CHAPTER n.
Retrospective events in the Author's history. — ^Philadelphia^— Yellow fever. —
Lodging^ home.— Foot races. — Paxton boys.— They threaten the eity.*^le
and Friend.— Author's early amosementa.— School anecdotes.— Sailing ex-
cursion.— Swimming and Skating. — ^Abb6 Rayna].-^LiodgingJionse guests.-^
Baron De Kalb.— Lady Moore.— Lady Susan O'Brien.— Woodward.— Sir Wil.
liam Draper.— Frank Richardson^-<-Anecdote. — Major Etherington.-^Anec
ilote. — Majors Small and Fell— General Roid^-^^ptain Wallace.— Anecdote
of Joseph Church.r-RivingtoD the printer.
Although it was in my fifteenth year, as already mentioned^
that I took my leave of the academy, yet the circumstances I am
now about to avert to were antecedent to that event, and are to
be considered as having taken place within the five years pre-
ceding it.
Among the persons ivho were acquainted and visited at my
grandfather's, were Doctor Laughlin M'Lean* and his lady.
The latter rarely missed a day, when the weather was favourable,
of calling upon our countrywoman, my grandmother; and I well
remember, she was always attended or rather preceded by a small
white dog, enormously fat, in which quality he even exceeded his
mistress, who yielded to few of her species and sex, in the pos-
session of an enviable embonpoint. The doctor was considered
to have great skill in his profession, as well as to be a man of wit
and general information, but I have never known a person who
had a more distressing impediment in his speech. Yet, notwith-
standing this misfortune, he some years after, on his return to
Europe, had the address to recommend himself to a seat in the
British House of Commons. He is understood to be the same
Lauchlan Macleane, who at Edinburgh evinced a generous be-
nevolence in administering to the relief of the celebrated Oliver
* Dr. Lauohlam Maclcaiol Bee Appendix B«— Eo.
YELLOW FEVER. 43
Goldsmith, as related in the life of that poet; and it is this cir-
cumstance whidi has principally induced me to notice him here.
About the year 1760 or 1761, to the best of my recoDection,
the city was alarmed by a visitation of the yellow fever. I can
say nothing of the extent of its ravages, having been, happily,
too young to be infected with the panic it produced, or to have
been at all mterested in the inquiry, whether it had an adequate
cause. My impression rather was, that it was an occurrence by
no means to be deprecated, since the schools were shut up, and
a vacation of five or six weeks, its fortunate consequence. As
the city was deserted by such as could leave it without too much
inconvenience, my grandfather took refuge at his country house
near Grermantown, whither, as one of his femily I accompanied
him, and remained there until the danger was supposed to be
over.
It was in the faU, probably of this very year, that my mother
removed to Hiiladelphia, in the view of keeping a lodging house,
an employment, which in Pennsylvania, has been the usual
resource of persons in her situation, that is, of widows, reputably
brought up, left in circumstances too slender for the support of
tilieir families. She began with taking boys who went to the
academy, of which there were generally a number from the
southern provinces and the West India islands. Being thus esta-
blished, I left my grand&ther's for her house, and by this change
of residence, bid adieu to the old route, which for about two
years I had traversed in going to and returning from school, in the
winter four times, and in the summer six times a day. I had my
choice, indeed, of different streets, and sometimes varied my course ;
but it generaUy led me through what is now called Dock street, then
a filthy uncovered sewer, bordered on either side by shabby
stables and tan-yards. To these, succeeded the more agreeable
object of Israel Pemberton's* garden (now covered in part by the
* Thif property, together with the mansioQ erected tbercoD, was originall/ in
ponenion of WiUiam Clarke, Esq. For seTeral years, says Watson, the pre.
miles were oecapied by some of the earlier governors. It was purchased by
Andrew HamUton, Esq., Attorney General. Its next owner was Israel Pem-
bertOD, and nibseqnenUy became celebrated as ** Pemberton*s House and gardens.**
Tbe building was large, containing maqy parlours and chambers^ and stood QSX
44 FOOT RACES.
bank of the United States)* laid out in the old fashioned style of
uniformity, with walks and allies nodding to their brothers, and
decorated with a number of evergreens carefully clipped into py-
ramidal and conical forms. Here the amenity of the view usually
detained me for a few minutes : Thence, turning Chestnut street
comer to the left, and passing a row of dingy t\vo-stoiy houses,
I came to the Whale bones, which gave name to the alley, at the
comer of which they stood. These never ceased to be occa-
sionally an object of some curiosity, and might be called my
second stage, beyond which there was but one more general ob-
ject of attention, and this was to get a peep at the race horses,
which in sporting seasons were kept in the widow Nichols's
stables, which from her house, (the Indian Queen at the corner of
Market street,) extended perhaps two-thirds or more of the way
to Chestnut street. In fact, throughout the whole of my route,
the intervals took up as much ground as the buildings ; and with
the exception of here and there a straggling house, Fifth street
might have been called the western extremity of the city.
My course was much shortened by the removal to my mother's,
who had taken a house in Arch street, facing the Friends burying
ground. The first lads that were placed with her, were two
brothers, the sons of a colonel Lewis of Virginia, The younger,
named Samuel, about a year older than myself, had the attrac-
tions of a pleasing countenance and great gentleness of manners.
Though he belonged to a younger class than mine, the living and
sleeping together were sufficient to cement a warm attachment
the louth side of Cbeitnut street, a short distance west of Third. After the decease
of Mr. Pembertoo, it was occupied by Alkxandkr Hamilton, as Secretary of
the Treasury of the United States. The building was razed about the year 1800,
and the grounds divided into building lots upon which were soon erected more
convenient structures, many of which have already given place, in their turn, to
the loftier and more commodious edifices of still more recent time. — En^
* Purchased by the late Mr. Stephen Girard, and occupied for many years by
him as a successful banker. His bank was in high credit at the time of his
decease, and, under his able and judicious management, had always, and fre«
quently during periods of depression and trial, sustained its high reputation. At
his death, the building was occupied and known as ** the Girard Bank," — a new
institution under far different auspices, which, in due time, met with a violent end»
The building remains, however,— a lucky circumstance ! — Eo.
. FOOT RACES. 46
between us, and there was not a boy in the school in whose
welfare and competitions I took so decided an interest; me ar-
dour of which was in almost perpetual requisition, from the cir-
cumstance of his being a champion in the gymnastic exercise of
running, which was then the rage. The enthusiasm of the tuif
had pervaded the academy, and the most extrayagant transports
of that theatre on the triumph of a favourite horse, were not more
zealous and impassioned, than were the acclamations which fol-
lowed the victor in a foot-race round a square. Stripped to the
shirt, and accoutred for the heat by a handkerchief bound round
the head, another round the middle, with loosened knee-bands,
without shoes, or with mocasons instead of them, the racers were
started ; and turning to the left round the comer of Arch street,
they encompassed the square in which the academy stands, while
the most eager spectators, in imitation of those who scour across
the course at a horse-race, scampered over the church burying
ground to Fifth street, in order to see the state of the runners as
they passed, and to ascertain which was likely to be foremost, on
turning Market street comer. The four sides of this square can-
not be much less than three-quarters of a mile ;* wherefore, bot-
tom in the coursers, was no less essential than swiftness, and in
both, Lewis bore away the palm fix)m every one that dared enter
against him. After having in a great number of matches com-
pletely triumphed over the academy^ other schools were resorted
to for racers ; but all in vain : Lewis was the Eclipse that distanced
every competitor, the swift-footed Achilles, against the vigorous
agility of whose straight and well-proportioned form, the long
legged stride of the overgrown, and the nimble step of the dap-
per, were equally unavailing. I was scarcely less elated with his
triumphs, than if I myself had been the victor: I was even
supremely happy in the circumstance, which gave me a claim to
a more than common degree of interest in him, and from my ex-
perience of the force of these associations, in which, by a kind of
metonymy, we take the place of the real agent, I can fully enter
into the feelings of the butcher, who ecstacied at the good be-
* Overrated, ai from the description of the city in Proud'a History of Penn.
sjWania, it appears that the distance is not half a mile, being only a little more
than 700 yards.
46 PAXTON BOTS.
haviour of his dog at a bull baiting, exclaimed to Charles the
Seco^l, "Damme, sir, if that is'nt my dog!" Since the time of
those exploits, in which I was too young to enter the lists, I have
valued myself upon my own agility in running and jumping; but
I have never had the vanity to suppose, that at my best, I could
have contended with any chance of success, in so long a race
against Lewis.
At what time I was separated from this friend of my youth I
cannot remember ; but have to regret, that I lost the opportunity
of seeing him, when several years afterwards, having I know not
what business in Philadelphia \^ch required despatch, he called
upon me one evening when I chanced to be out, and as he was
obliged to leave the city very early in the morning, staid in the
hope of meeting me tiU a veiy late hour. But my engagements
unfortunately detained me too long, and he had been obliged to
depart before I returned. This could not have been long be-
fore the war, probably between the year 1770 and 1772, when
we had both attained to years of manhood ; but whatever may
have been his destiny, I have never since heard of him.*
Of all the cities in the world, Philadelphia was for its size, per-
haps, one of the most peaceable and unwarlike ; and Grant was
not wholly without data for supposing, that with an inconsiderable
force he could make his way, at least, through Pennsylvania. So
much had the manners of the Quakers, and its long exemption
from hostile alarm, nourished this disposition, that a mere handful
of lawless frontier men, was found sufficient to throw the capital
into consternation. The unpunished, and even applauded mas-
sacre of certain Indians at Lancaster,! who in the jail of that town
had vainly .flattered themselves that they possessed an asylum,
had so encouraged flieir murderers, who called themselves Paxton
boysy that they threatened to perpetrate the like enormity upon a
* It is not only possible but probable, that he might have been one of the
Lewises who defeated the Indians in the g^reat battle of Point Pleasant in the
year 1774. There was a General and a Colonel Lewis, brothers, the latter of
whom fell in the action.— Sire Cuming'9 Tbur, p. 133.
t This was in December, 1763 ; sii Indians were killed at Concstoga Manor on
the I4th of this month ; and the retnainder of the tribe being foorteen in namber
were kiUed at Lancaster on the 27th.— 2d Proud, p. 326.
PAZTON BOTS— CAPTAIK LOZLEY. 47
number of other Indians under the protection of govemment in
the metropolis;* and for this puipose, they at length put them-
selves in arms, and actually began their march. Their force,
thou^ known to be small in the begioning, continually increased
as it went along, the vires acquirU eunde being no less the attri-
bute of tenor than of fame. Between the two, the invaders were
augmented to some thousands by the time they had approached
within a day or two's journey of their object. To die credit,
however, of the Philadelphians, every possible effort was made
to fiustrate the inhuman design of the banditi ; and the Quakers
as well as others, who had proper feelings on the occasion, ex-
erted themselves for the protection of the terrified Indians, who
were shut up in the barracks, and for whose immediate defence,
part of a British regiment of foot was stationed there. But the
citadel or place of arms was in the very heart of the city, all
around and within the old court*house and Friend's meeting-
house. Here stood the artillery, under the command of captain
LiOxley,t a veiy honest, though little, dingy-looking man, with
regimentals, considerably war-worn or tarnished; a very sala-
mander or^re drake in the public estimation, whose vital air was
deemed the fume of sulphureous explosion, and who, by what-
ever means he had acquired his science, was always put foremost
when great guns were in question. Here it was that the grand
stand was to be made against the approaching invaders, who, if
rumour might be credited, had now extended their murderous
purposes, beyond the savages, to their patrons and abettors.
Hence, the cause had materially changed its complexion, and
instead of resting on a basis of mere humanity and plighted faith,
it had emphathically become the cause of self-preservation ; little
doubt being entertained that the capital would be sacked, in case
of the predominance of the barbarous foe. In this state of con-
sternation and dismay, all business was laid aside for the more
important occupation of arms. Drums, colours, rusty halberts
and bayonets, were brought forth from their lurking places; and,
* About 140 in nnmber.— 2d Proud, p. 336.
t Tbii doaghty gentleman was a Lieatenant under Braddock in 1756, and
wat certainly a man of considerable influence and repute, notwithatanding the
ImiBoroiia descriptton of the teiL— En.
48 PAXTOM BOYS.
as every good citizen who had a sword had girded it to his thi^,
so every one who had a gun had placed it on his shoulder. In
short, bella^ horrida bella, war, destructive war, was about to
desolate the hitherto peaceful streets of Philadelphia.
But with all this, the old proverb was not belied ; and the be-
nign influence of this ill wind was sensibly felt by us school-boys.
The dreaded event was overbalanced in our minds by the holy-
days which were the effect of it ; and so far as I can recall my
feelings on the occasion, they very much preponderated on the
side of hilarity.
As the defensive army was without eyes, it had, of course, no
better information than such as common bruit could supply ; and
hence, many untoward consequences ensued : One was the near
extinction of a troop of mounted butchers from Germantown,
who, scampering down Maiket street with the best intentions in
the world, were announced as the Paxton boys, and by this mis-
take, very narrowly escaped a greeting from the rude throats of
captain Loxley's artillery. The word fire was already quivering
on his lips, but Pallas came in shape of something, and suppressed
it. Another emanation from this unmilitary defect of vision, was
the curious order, that every house-holder in Maiket street should
affix one or more candles at his door before daylight, on the
morning of the day on which, from some sufficient reason no
doubt, it had been elicited that the enemy would friU surely make
his attack, and by no other than this identical route, on the cita-
del. Whether this illumination was merely intended to prevent
surprise, or whether it was that the commander who enjoined it
was determined, like Ajax, that if perish he must, he would
perish in the &ce of day, I do not know, but certain it h, that
such a decree went forth and was religiously complied with.
This I can affirm from the circumstance of having resided in
Market street at the time. The sage precaution, however, proved
superfluous, although with respect merely to the nearness of the
redoubted invaders, there was colour for it. It was soon ascer^
tained that they had reached Germantown, and a deputation of
the least obnoxious citizens with the olive branch, was sent out to
meet them. After a parley of some days, an armistice was agreed
upon, and peace at length so effectually restored, that [the fbrmi*
PAXTON BOYS — ^PAKTY SPIRIT. 49
dable stragglers who had excited so much terror, were permitted,
as friends, to enter the city.
Party spirit, at this time, ran very high, and the Paxton* men
* Generally known aa ** the Paxton boys,** — from the township of Paxton, in
Lancaster county, associated to avenge alleged barbarities of the Indians.
Among their leaders were Stewart, Calhoun, Smith and Dickey. They created
ranch excitement at the time, (1764.) " In this year,'*— says Watson—" under
an alarm of intended massacre, fourteen being previously killed on the Conestoga,
the Indians sought shelter in Lancaster, and, for better security, were placed
under bolts and bars in the county prison ; but, at noon, a party on horseback, from
the country, rode through the streets to the prison, and there forcibly entered
and killed unresisting men and women on the spot The citizens of Lancaster
were londly blamed tor their apathy. They suffered the perpetrators of this
cmel outrage to depart unpunished. Meanwhile other friendly Indians who had
received information of this massacre, sought refuge in Philadelphia, the news
of which exasperated the " Paxton boys,'* who at once resolved to march to the
city, for the purpose of completing the destruction they had commenced, and also
to take summary vengeance upon the friends, residing there, of their intended
Tictiros.
"■ The news of their approach, which outran them, was greatly magnified ; the
utmost excitement prevailed, and a fearful struggle was anticipated. Among the
citixens of Philadelphia were many who entertained feelings of bitter hostility
towards the unfortunate race, for their conduct during the Indian war. The
* Paxton boys,' to the number of several hundred, armed with rifles, and clad in
hunting shirts, affecting the rudest manners, approached the city in two divisions
aa for as Germantown, and the opposite bank of the Schuylkill, where they finally
entered into affected negotiations with the citizens, at the head of whom was Dr.
Franklin, and returned to their homes, to the terror of the country through which
they passed.
''In the meantime, the Indians sought refuge in Philadelphia, having with
them their Moravian minister. They were at first conducted, by order of the
governor, to the barracks in the Northern Liberties ; but the highlanders there
refused them shelter, although it was cold December weather, and for several
hours they were exposed to the unrestrained insult? of the rabble. They were
rab^equently sent to New York. They were guarded by a company of seventy
highlanders as far as Amboy, where they were stopped by order of General Gage.
They next returned to Philadelphia. All these removals were measures of
security, as fears were still entertained from many of the excited citizens, who
were favourable to the movements which threatened their destruction. In the
midst of the panic caused, at night, by the reported proximity of the * Paxton
boys,' the town was illuminated, alarm bells were sounded, and the citizens
hastened for arms to the barracks. Many young Quakers joined the de-
fenders there, where they speedily threw up intrenchments. Dr. Franklin
and others, who went forth to meet the leaders, conducted them into the city,
that they might point out, if possible, those who had been guilty of alleged ex-
But they failed to make the necessary recognition, and fearing that the
6
50 PAXTON BOYS — ^PARTY SPIRIT.
were not without a number of clamorous advocates, who entirely
justified them on the score of their sufierings firom the savages,
who, during the war, had made incursions upon them, and mur-
dered their kindred and friends. It was even alleged, that the
pretended firiendly Indians had been treacherous, having always
maintained an understanding with the hostile ones, and frequently
conducted them into our setdements : But this rested on mere
suspicion, without a shadow of proof that ever I heard of. It
i¥as enough, however, to throw it out to obtain partisans to the
opinion; and, whether the Paxton men were "more sinned
against than sinning," was a question which was agitated with so
much ardor and acrimony, that even the school-boys became
warmly engaged in the contest. For my own part, though of the
religious sect which had been long warring with the Quakers, I
was entirely on the side of humanity and public duty, (or in this,
do I beg the question ?) and perfectly recollect my indignation at
the sentiments of one of the ushers who was on the opposite side.
His name was Davis, and he was really a kind, good natured
man ; yet from the dominion of his religious or political pre-
judices, he had been led to apologize for, if not to approve of, an
outrage, which was a disgrace to a civilized people. He had
been among the riflemen on their coming into the city, and talk-
ing with them upon the subject of the Lancaster massacre, and
particularly of the killing of Will Sock, the most distinguished
of the victims, related with an air of approbation, this rodomon-
tade of the real or pretended murderer. " I," said he, " am the
man who killed Will Sock — ^this is the arm that stabbed him to
the heart, and I glory in it/' Notwithstanding the fine colouring
of Mr. Davis, young as I was, I am happy in being able to say,
that I felt a just contempt for the inglorious boaster, who appeared
to me in the light of a cowardly ruffian, instead of a hero. There
was much political scribbling on this occasion ; and among the
ciCizeni were well prepared to make good their defence, they professed to be
satisfied and soon retoroed to their homes.'*
The Indians remained in the city for several months, where their numbers
were speedily thinned by the ravages of the small-poz. Fifty ^ix were baried in
the Potter^s Field, now known as Waphin|[rton Square^ the good people of Phila*
delphia preferring this to the more euphonous designation of Pars I— Ed.
OGLE AND FRIEND. 51
pamphleteers of the day, Doctor Franklm, drew his pen in behalf
of the Indians, giving a very affecting narrative of the transaction
at Lancaster, which, no doubt, had its effect in regulating public
opinion, and thereby putting a stop to the farther violence that
was meditated.
But it was not alone by hostile alarms, that the good people of
Philadelphia were annoyed. Their tranquillity had been likewise
disturbed by the uncitizenlike conduct of a pair of British officers,
who, for want of something better to do, had plunged themselves
mto an excess of intemperance ; and in the plentitude of wine
and hilarity, paraded the streets at all hours,
A la cl&rt6 de cieaz duu Tombre do la nuit,
to the no small terror of the sober and the timid. The firm of
this duumvirate was Ogle and Friend, names always coupled to-
gether, like those of Castor and Pollux, or of Pylades and
Orestes. But the cement which connected them, was scarcely
so pure as that which had united those heroes of antiquity, It
could hardly be called friendship, but was rather a confederacy in
debauchery and riot, exemplified in a never ending round of frolic
and fun. It was related of Ogle, that upon hiring a servant, he
had stipulated ^vith him that be should never get drunk but when
his master was sober. But the fellow some time after requested
his discharge, giving for his reason, that he had in truth no dislike
to a social glass himself, but it had so happened, that the terms
of the agreement had absolutely cut him off from any chance of
ever indulging his propensity.
Many are the pranks I have heard ascribed, either conjointly
or separately, to this par nobile fratrum. That of Ogle's first
s^pearance in Philadelphia, has been thus related to me by Mr,
Will Richards, the apothecary, who, it is well known, was, from
his size and manner, as fine a figure for Falstaff as the imagination
can conceive. " One afternoon," said he, " an officer in full
regimentals, booted and spurred with a whip in his hand, spattered
with mud from top to toe, and reeling under the effects of an
overdose of liquor, made his entrance into the coffee-house, in a
box of which I was sitting, perusing a newspaper. He was
52 OGLE AND FRIEND.
probably under the impression, that every man he was to meet
would be a Quaker, and that a Quaker was no other than a
licensed Simon Pure for his amusement : for no sooner had he
entered, than throwing his arms about the neck of Mr. Joshua
Fisher with the exclamation of— "Ah, my dear Broadbrim give
me a kiss," he began to slaver him most lovingly. As Joshua
was a good deal embarrassed by the salutation, and wholly unable
to parry the assault or shake off the fond intruder, I interfered
in his behalf and effected a separation, when Ogle, turning to me,
cried out, *Hah! my jolly fellow, give me a smack of your fat
chops,' and immediately fell to hugging and kissing me, as he
had done Fisher. But instead of the coyness he had shown, I
hugged and kissed in my turn as hard as I was able, until my
weight at length brought Ogle to the floor and myself on top of
him : Nevertheless, I kept kissing away, until nearly mashed and
suffocated, he exclaimed, ^for Heaven's sake let me up, let me
up, or you will smother me !' Having suflSciently tormented him
and avenged Joshua Fisher, I permitted him to rise, when he
seemed a good deal sobered, and finding that I was neither a
Quaker nor wholly ignorant of the world, he evinced some respect
for me, took a seat with me in a box, and entering into conversa-
tion, soon discovered, that however he might be disguised by in-
toxication, he well knew what belonged to the character of a gen-
tleman. This," said Richards, " was the commencement of an
acquaintance between us ; and captain Ogle sometimes called to
$ee me, upon which occasions he always behaved with the utmost
propriety and decorum."
This same coffee-house, the only one indeed in the city, was
also the scene of another affray by Ogle and Friend in conjunc-
tion. I know not what particular acts of mischief they had been
guilty of, but they were very drunk, and their conduct so ex-
tremely disquieting and insulting to the peaceable citizens there
assembled, that being no longer able to endure it, it was judged
expedient to commit them ; and Mr. Chew happening to be there,
undertook, in virtue probably of his office of recorder, to write
their commitment: But Ogle, facetiously jogging his elbow, and
interrupting him with a repetition of the pitiful interjection of
**»4A, now^ Mr. Chew /" he was driven from his gravity, and
OGLE AlVD FRIEITD. 53
obliged to throw away the pen. It was then taken up by Alder-
man M ^n with a determination to go through with the busi-.
ness, when the culprits reeling round him, and Ogle in particular^
hanging over his shoulder and reading after him as he wrote, at
length, with irresistible effect, hit upon an unfortunate oversight
of the alderman. "Ay," says he, "my fiaither was a justice of
peace too, but he did not spell that word as you do. I remember
perfectly well, that instead of an S he always used to spell cir^
CUMSTANGE with a C," This sarcastic thrust at the scribe, en-
tirely turned the tide in favour of the rioters; and the com-i
pany being disarmed of their resentment, the alder^ian had no
disposition to provoke farther criticism by going on with the
tniUimus.
The irregularities of these gay rakes were not more eccentric
than diversified; and the more extravagant they could render
tfaem, the better. At one time, they would drive full tilt through
the streets in a chair; and upon one of th^e occasions, on ap-i
proaching a boom which had been thrown across the street, in a
part that was undergoing the operation of paving, they lashed
forward their steed, and sousing against the spar with great vio-i
lence, they were consequently hurled from their seats, like Don
Quixote in his temerarious assault of the windmills. At another
time, at Doctor Orme'p, the apothecary, where Ogle lodged, they,
in emulation of the same mad hero at the puppet show, laid about
them with their canes upon the defeiiceless bottles and phials, at
the same time assaulting a diminutive Maryland parson, whom,
in their frolic, they kicked from the street-door to the kitcl^en. He
was a fellow lodger of Ogle's ; ai)d, to mak§ him some amends
for the roughness of this usage, they shortly after took him drunk
io the dancing assembly, where, through the instrumentality of
this unworthy son of the church, they contrived to excite a notable
hubbub. Thou^ they had escaped, as already mentioned, at
the coffee-house, yet their repeated malfeasances had brought them
within the notice of the civil authority ; and they had more than
once been in the clutches of the mayo? of the city. This was Mr.
S , a small man of a squat, bandy Jegged figure; and
hence, by vray of being revenged on him, they bribed a negro
with a precisely similar paor of legs, to cany him ^ billet, whicl^
5*
54
imported, that as the bearer had in vain searched the town for a
pair of hose that might fit him, he now applied to his honour to
be informed where he purchased his stockings.
I have been told that General Lee, when a captain in the
British service, had got involved in this vortex of dissipation ; and
although afterwards so strenuous an advocate for the civil rights
of the Americans, had been made to smart severely for their vio-
lation, by the mayor's court of Philadelphia.
The common observation, that when men become soldiers they
lose the character and feelings of citizens, was amply illustrated
by the general conduct of the British officers in America. Their
studied contempt of the mohairs^ by which term all those who
were not in uniform were distinguished, was manifest on all occa-
sions: and it is by no means improbable, that the disgust
then excited, might have more easily ripened into that harvest
of discontent, which subsequent injuries called forth, and
which terminated in a subduction of allegiance from the parent
land.
At the era of these various intestine commotians, I, could not
have more than completed my twelfth year. My attention to my
school exercises, as already observed, was not at this time to be
complained of; and a part of my evenings was either employed
in writing them or committing them to memory. In relation to
the latter, I will mention a circumstance which to me appeared
remarkable, though perhaps it was not peculiar. After labouring
in vain to master my task, I have gone to bed, scarcely able to
repeat a Ime of it, but in the morning when I awoke, it has been
perfect in my memory. The same thing has often occurred in
respect to tunes I have been desirous of acquiring : and indeed I
have ever found, that the morning was the propitious season for
the exertion of my mental faculties. But tiiough not materially
deficient in attention, it had not the smallest reference to future
utility ; and something less than
A wizard might baTe wid,
I iifi'er shall riae b/ benefice or trade«
A scramble was ever my aversion, and the unthriftiness of my
character might also have been inferred, fi^m my indifference to
author's early amusements. 56
those games which have gain for their object. I never could
boast my winning at marbles or chuckers; and as I chiefly played
them for pastime, I never attained to that degree of perfection in
them, which the keener stimulus of profit is calculated to pro-
duce, and which alone perhaps can lead to the fame of a dabster.
When in possession of any of these implements that were
reckoned handsome or good, I never felt the inclination I have
observed in those of better trading parts, of turning them into
pence : with me they were hobby horses, not articles of com-
merce ; and though I had no dislike to money, it never impressed
me as a primary good, a circumstance more essential than may
be imagined, to what is called success in life. I do not speak of
this as a virtue ; and if it were one, I have certainly little reason
to rejoice in it. It is not one of those, at least, which leads to
riches and advancement ; or which, under the world's law, has
a right to look for other than its own reward. In gymnastic ex-
ercises, however, my relish was keen and altogether orthodox.
For those of running, leaping, swimming and skating, no one
had more appetite ; and for the enjoyment of these, fatigue and
hunger were disregarded. To these succeeded a passion for
fowling and boating; fishing being too sedentary and inactive
for my taste. If furnished on Saturday afternoon or other
holyday, with cash enough for the purchase of powder and
shot, or the hire of a batteau or skiff, as the propensity of the day
might incline, I had nothing more to wish for. In my land ram-
bles, the environs of Philadelphia for several miles round, were
thoroughly traversed, from the uplands of Springetsbury, Bush-
hill and Centre-wood, to the low grounds and meadows of Pas-
syunk and Moyamensing; while, in my water excursions, the
sedgy shores of the Delaware, as well as the reedy cover of
Petty's, League and Mud Islands, were pervaded and ex-
plored in pursuit of ducks, reed-bird and rail» No pestilent
vapours then arose firom these marshes; and instead of the
deadly fevers which have since proceeded fi-om, or been fos-
tered by them, their effluvia gave a zest to the cold morsel in
the locker.
But notwithstanding the ardour mth which these sports were
56 SCHOOL ANECDOTES.
pursued, I not unfrequently surrendered myself to the reveries of
a pleasing melancholy, to which I have ever been occasionally
inclined. For hours together have I sat alone, listening to the
church bells, which it was the custom to ring on the evening be-
fore market day, and which, from the back part of a house
wherein we some time resided on the south side of Arch street,
were heard to much advantage. Rousseau, who takes great
pains to represent himself as different from all others, and who
seems to suppose that the mould in which he was cast has been
broken, informs us, that the chime of bells always smgularly af-
fected him. But the lively testimony of my own feelings assures
me, that never, not even on the day when he took a ramble in
the suburbs of Annecy while Madam de Warrens was at vespers,
and gave himself up to those delightful illusions, of which he has
given so enchanting a description, was he more under the in-
fluence of their transporting sounds than I have been. How
often has the simple melody of Turn again WiUington^ " resound-
ing through the empty-vaulted night," completely lifted me
from the earth ; absorbed me in etherial visions, and sublimed
me into such abstraction from this low world and its concerns,
as to identify my conceptions with those of the poet, when he
exclaims.
How Tain the ardonr of the crowd,
How low, how little are the proud,
How indigent the great !
The amusements I have been speaking of, were of no advantage
to me as a student ; but what was lost to the mind by my strong
addiction to active recreations, was gained to the body ; and
tended to invigorate a constitution naturally tender.' My exer-
cises were often carried to toil. I was extremely fond of rowing,
and took great delight in feathering my oar, sometimes skimming
it along the surface of the water in the manner of a wherry man,
sometimes resting it horizontally between the thole pins in the
fashion of a bargeman. I had also made some proficiency in
sculling, which appeared to me a highly enviable qualification :
but the trimming of sails, laying a boat to the wind, with the
management of the helm and the application of the proper terms,
SAILING EXCURSION. 57
were, in my eyes, acquisitions more truly honourable than the best
of those ^hich are attained in a collie. The subject recalls a
memorable expedition I engaged in, when periiaps about the age
of thirteen. Returning from morning school at eight o'clock, a
boy, a brother of the late Mr. Robert Morris, proposed an ex-
cursion to Chester, for the purpose of seeing the Coventry frigate
which there rode at anchor. From an over greediness of grati-
fication, his plan was to have two boats, whereas one would have
been very ample for four of us, the number of the company.
But then the projector of the voyage might have found competi-
tors for the helm, which he wished to engross ; and had, accord-
ingly, secured an unambitious ship^mate, in a son of captain
Loxley, of Paxton war memory, already mentioned. A skiff he
had already prepared for himself and his comrade, and su^ested
where a batteau might be obtained for the other two of the party,
one Corbett firom the island of Montserrat, and myself. Each
boat had a sail, and he observed, that as the wind and tide would
be favourable, we could run down in a few hours. I objected,
that I had not breakfasted. Neither had he, he said, nor indeed
any of us ; but this was of little consequence, as we could ftir^
nish ourselves with cakes. My mind fluctuated awhile between
the charms of the adventure and the impropriety of going with-
out permission, and consequently subjecting my mother to a
most distressing state of anxiety on my account : For I was nei-
ther an habitual truant-player, nor a contemner of the feelings of
a most affectionate parent, though I should have been ashamed
to have said so. But such was the eagerness for the frolic with
my associates, that it would not admit of a moment's delay ; and
the allurements of pleasure proving too potent for principle, I
yielded to persuasion, and we embarked. It was a fine morning;
a gentle breeze propelled us in our course, and in a few hours
we were delightfully wafted to the place of destination. We
saw the frigate, had the pleasure of sailing round her, the satis-
faction of counting her guns, of contemplating her bright sides,
(for she appeared to be new,) of admiring her riggmg, and the
duck-like beauty with which she sat upon the water. But here
firuition ended. Water excursions are keen whetters of the appe-
tite, and the calls of hunger began to be importunate. I forget
58 SAILING EXCURSION.
whether we had taken any cakes with us, but if we had, the sup-
ply had been very insufficient for the day's provision. Hereupon,
a canvass took place of the state of our pockets: they were found
empty and pennyless: We were, in short, a miserable crew of
Gautiers sans argent ^ and being too proud to beg for victuals,
we had no resource but unripe fruit. As the wind was unfavour-
able to our return, we were obliged to wait for the turning of the
tide, and in the mean time, employed ourselves in sauntering
about the village, the orchards, and the shore. We found, too,
that we were very much out in our reckoning, the tide of flood
not making for above an hour later than our calculation. At
length, however, we had the satisfaction to find, that the marks
we had made in the sand were unequivocally encroached upon
by the water, and that floating substances were at a stand, if not
yeally changed in their direction. We hailed the event, and im-
mediately embarked. But now our toils began. It was already
late in the afternoon : The wind, still ahead, had considerably in-
creased, and the lowering aspect of the sky indicated approaching
rain. It came on about dusk, and in this situation we had to tug
at our oars like galley slaves, for the whole distance of from six-
teen to eighteen miles. Then it was, we perceived the folly of
our two boats. It was between ten and eleven at night when we
reached the city, wet, almost starved, and exhausted with labour.
As I well knew what must be my mother's cruel situation, I
hastened to show myself, and found her a prey to the most af-
flicting uncertainty. She had not been able to obtain any satis-
fisictory tidings of me, and knew not what to conclude. My tres-
pass, however, being readily forgiven, I appeased my hunger and
went to bed. Extreme fatigue, especially when it has been min-
gled with anxiety, is unfavourable to repose, and I slept but ill.
I was tonnented with distressing dreams, contending, as it
seemed, with tasks above my strength, and bufleting with waves
" in night and tempest wrapt."
Borne by th* outra^out flood
To distance down, I ride the r'tdgj wave,
Or whelm'd beneath the boiliug' eddy sink.
The exercises of swimming and skating were so much within
SWIMMING AND SKATING. 69
the reach of the boys of Philadelphia, that it would have been
surprising, had they neglected them, or even had they not ex-
celled m them. Both Delaware and Schuylkill present the most
convenient and delightful shores for the former, whilst the heat
and the length of the summers invite to the luxury of bathing ;
and.the same rivers seldom fail in winter, to offer the means of
enjoying the latter ; and when they do, the ponds always afford
them. Since the art of swimming has been, in some degree, dig-
nified by Dr. Franklin's having been a teacher of it, and having
made it the subject of a dissertation, I may, perhaps, be warranted
in bringing forward my remark. When in practice, I never felt
myself spent with it ; and though I never undertook to swim
farther than across Schuylkill, at or near the middle ferry where
the bridge now stands, it appeared to me that I could have con-
tinued the exercise for hours, and consequently have swum some
miles. To recover breath, I only found it necessary to turn upon
my back, in which position with my arms across my body or
pressed to my sides, since moving them as many do, answers no
other purpose than to retard and fatigue the swimmer ; my lungs
had firee play, and I felt myself as perfectly at ease, as if reclined
on a sofa. In short, no man can be an able swimmer, who only
swims ^-ith his face downward : The pressure of the water on the
breast, is an impediment to respiration in that attitude, which, for
that reason cannot be long continued ; whereas, the only incon-
venience in the supine posture, is, that the head sinks so low,
that the ears are liable to receive w^ater, a consequence which
might be prevented by stopping them with wool or cotton, or
covering them with a bathing cap.
With respect to skating, though the Philadelphians have never
reduced it to rules like the Londoners, nor connected it with then-
business like Dutchmen, I will yet hazard the opinion, that they
were the best and most elegant skaters in the world. I have seen
New England skaters. Old England skaters, and Holland skaters,
but the best of them could but " make the judicious grieve." I
was once slightly acquainted with a worthy gentleman, the quon-
dam member of a skating club in London, and it must be ad-
mitted that he performed very well for an Englishman. His High
60 SKATING.
Dutch J or as he better termed it, his. ovier edge skating, might, for
aught I know, have been exactly conformable to the statutes of
this institution : To these, he would often appeal ; and I recollect
the principal one was, that each stroke should describe an exact
semicircle. Nevertheless, his style was what we should deem a
very bad one. An utter stranger to the beauty of bringmg for-
ward the suspended foot towards the middle of the stroke, and
boldly advancing it before the other, at the conclusion of it, thus
to preserve throughout his course, a continuity of movement, to
rise like an ascending wave to its acme, then, gracefully like a
descending one, to glide into the succeeding stroke without effort
either real or apparent — every change of foot with this gentleman,
seemed a beginning of motion, and required a most unseemly
jerk of the body ; and unequivocal evidence of the want of that
power, which depends upon a just balance, and should never be
lost — ^which carries the skater forward with energy without ex-
ertion ; and is as essential to his swift and graceful career, as is
a good head of water to the velocity of a mill wheel. Those
who have seen good skating will comprehend what I mean, still
better those who are adepts themselves ; but excellence in the art
can never be gained by geometrical rules. The two reputed best
skaters of my day, were General Cadwallader and Massey the
biscuit baker ; but I could name many others, both of the aca-
demy and Quaker school who were in no degree inferior to them ;
whose action and attitudes were equally graceful, and like theirs,
no less worthy of the chisel than those, which in other exer-
cises, have been selected to display the skill of the eminent sculp-
tors of antiquity.*' I here speak, be it observed, of what the
* Watson aI«o informs os that " daring the old fa»hioned winters, when, about
New Year*8 day, every one expected to see or hear of an 'Ox Roast* on the
Delaware, upon the thick ribbed ice, the river's surface was covered with skaters.
I Of the many varieties of skaters of all colours and sizes mingled together, and
I darting about here and there, * upward and downward, mingled and convolved;*
I a few were at all times distinguished above the rest for dexterity, power and
I grace, and among these were William Tharpe, Dr. Foulke, Governor MifBin, C.
I W. Peale, George Heyl, and Joe Claypoole, not to omit a black Othello who, from
his apparent muscle and powerful movement, might have sprung, as did the
I Moor from * men of royal siege.* In swiftness he had no competitor ; he out*'
•tripped the wind ; the play of his elbows in alternate movement with his * low
SKATING — ^ABBE BAYKAL. 61
Philadelphians were^ not what they arej smce I am unacquainted
with the present state of the art ; and as from my lately meeting
with young men, who, though bred in the city had not learned to
swim, I infer the probability, that skating may be equally on the
decline.
The Abbe Raynal,* when speaking of Philadelphia, in his Philo-
sophical History of the East and West Indies, observes that the
pitter * dntM, while darting forward and attering oceanonaUj a wild scream
peculiar to hie race while in active exertion of body, was rery imponng in ap*
pearaooe and effect Of the gentlemen before enumerated, George Heyl took
the lead in gracefbl skating, and in superior dexterity in catting figures and
*High Dutch* within a limited space of smooth ice. On a larger field of glass,
among' others he might be seen moving about eleganUy and at perfect ease, in
eonre linesi with folded arms, being dressed in red coat (as was the fashion) and
buckskin * tights,* his bright broad skates in an occasional round flashing upon
the eye ; then again to be pursued by others he might be seen suddenly changing
to the back and hed forward movement, offering them his hand, and at the same
time eluding their grasp by his dexterous and sudden deviations to the right and
left, leaving them to the toil of striking out* after him with all their strength.
** The next best skater, was Dr. Foulke. Skating * High Dutch,* and being
able to cat the letters of his own name at one flourish constituted his fiime as
a skater.
"d W. Peale, (founder of the Museum) was only distinguished for using a
remarkabie pair of * gutter skates,' with a singular prong, capped and curved
baekwarda, with which he moved leisurely about in curve lines. They looked
as if they had been brought to him from afar, as a contribution to the curiosities
of his Museum.**— En.
* This celebrated person was bom in 1712 : educated among the Jesuits, and
had even become a member of their Order : but was expelled for denying the
supreme authority of the church. He afterwards associated with Voltaire,
D*Alembert, and Diderot, and was, by them, employed to famish the theological
articles for the Encyclopedia. In this, however, he received the assistance of the
Abb6 YvoD, to whom he did not give above a sixth of what he received ; which,
being afterwards discovered, he was obliged to pay Yvon the balance. His most
celebrated work is his Political and Philosophical History of the European settle-
meDta in the East and West Indies; which has been translated into all the
Jaofuagee of Europe and much admired. This work was followed in 1780 by
another entitled the Revolution of America, in which the Abb4 pleads the cause
of the Americans with zeal. The chief trait in Raynal's character was his love
of liberty; but when he saw the length to which the French Revolutionists were
proceeding, he made one effort to stop them in their career. In May, 1791, he
addreesed a letter to the Constituent National Assembly, in which, after compli-
mentiag them upon the great things they had done, he cautioned them against
Che dangers of going farther. He lived not only to see his forebodings of public
6
62 SKATING ABBE BAYNAL.
houses are covered with slate, a material amply supplied firom
quarries in the neighbourhood. But, unfortunately, for the source
from which the Abbe derived his information, there were no such
quarries near the city that ever I heard of, and certainly but a
single house in it with this kind of roof, which, from that circum*
stance, was distinguished by the name of The Slate House. It
stood in Second street, at the comer of Norris's alley, and was a
singular old fashioned structure, laid out in the style of a fortifica-
tion, with abundance of angles both salient and re*entering. Its
two wings projected to the street in the manner of bastions, to
which, the main building retreating from sixteen to eighteen feet,
served for a curtain. Within, it was cut up into a number of
apartments, and on that account, was exceedingly well adapted
to the purpose of a lodging house, to which use it had been long
appropriated. An additional convenience, was a spacious yard
on the back of it, extending halfway to Front street, enclosed by
a high wall, and ornamented with a double row of venerable,
lofty pines, which afforded a very agreeable rtis in urhe^ or rural
scene in the heart of the city. The lady who had resided here
and given some celebrity to the stand by the style of her accom-
modations, either dying or declining business, my mother was
persuaded by her friends to become her successor; and, accord-
ingly obtained a lease of the premises, and took possession of
them to the best of my recollection, in the year 1764 or 1765.*
calamity realized, but to suffer his share of It After bein^ stripped of all his
property, which was considerable, by the robbers of the Revolution, he died in
poverty, March, 1796, in the eighty.foarth year of his age. — Land, Eney, — Ed*
* The slatcroof house is still standing, in 1846, a creditable monament to the
forbearance of its lady-owner, in the midst of the ifeneral war which, for years,
has been steadily waged against every relic of the olden^time. How much longer
it will be suffered to remain it were vain to conjecture. Its origin, its uses, and
the historical characters who, from time to time, have dwelt within its walk,
should create a feeling of interest, for its preservation on the part of Philadelf^ians;
and prompt the adoption of immediate measures for that patriotic purpose. In
this age of ** Constitutional scruples/* the city councils might not feel at liberty
to appropriate the sum necessary for its purchase and restoration ; but the citi-
zens themselves by limiting the sum to a trifle, might readily fill a subscription
for a few thousand dollars, and, by placing h ttnder the guardianship of the city,
insure for it the necessary care.
We are informed by the zealous chronicler,Waison, that this house was erected
- LODGING HOUSE — SLATE-ROOF HOUSE. 63
Whfle in this residence, and in a still more commodious one in
the upper part of Front street, to which she some years afterwards
removed, she had the honour, if so it might be called, of enter-
taining strangers of the first rank who visited the city. Those
who have seen better days, but have been compelled by hard
necessity, to submit to a way of life, which to a feeling mind,
whoever may be the guests, is sufficiently humiliating, are much
indebted to Mr. Gibbon, for the handsome manner in which he
speaks of the hostess of a boarding house at Lausanne. With
the delicacy of a gentleman and the discernment of a man of the
world, the historian dares to recognise that worth and refinement
are not confined to opulence or station ; and that although, in the
keeper of a house of public entertainment, these qualities are not
much to be looked for, yet, when they do occur, the paying for
the comforts and attentions we receive does not exempt us from
the courtesy of an apparent equality and obligation. An equally
liberal way of thinking, is adopted by Mr. Cumberland, who tells
Qs in his Memoirs, that the British coflee-house was kept by a
Mrs. Anderson, a person of great respectability. If, then, an
education and situation in early life, which enabled my mother to
maintam an intercourse in the best families in the city, pretentions,
in no degree impaired by her matrimonial connexion, or an in-
dustrious, irreproachable conduct in her succeeding years of
wido^diood, can give a claim to respect, I have a right to say
with Mr. Cumberland, that the principal lodging house in Phila-
delphia, was kept by a person of great respectability.
A biographical sketch of the various personages, who, in the
course of eight or nine years, became inmates of this house,
ior Samuel Carpenter whom he eulogizes for his early public spirit, and that it
was occupied by William Penn, on his second visit in the year 1700. One
month after Penn*8 arrival, John Penn, called the ** American,*' was born in this
boose. In 1703, the property was purchased by William Trent, the founder of
Trenton — ^the capitol of New Jersey, for JC850. Watson quotes a letter from
James Logan in 1700 to Penn as follows: ** William Trent designing for Eng.
land is about selling his house, (that he bought of Samuel Carpenter,) which thou
lived in, with the improvement of a beautiful garden. I wish it could be made
thine, as nothing in this town is so well fitting a Governor. His price is jC900
of our money, which it is hard thou can*st not spare.'*
He could not spare it, however, and it became the property of a Mr. Norris, in
wlioae &mUy it lUU continues.— Ed.
64 LODGING HOUSE 6UE8T9— BABON D£ KALB.
might, from the hand of a good delineator, be both curious and
amusing. Among these, were persons of distinction, and some
of no distinction : many real gentlemen, and some, no doubt, ^o
were merely pretenders to the appellation. Some attended by
servants in gay liveries; some, with servants in plain coats, and
some with no servants at all. It was rarely without officers of
the British army. It was at difierent times, nearly filled by those
of the Forty-second or Highland regiment, as also by those of the
Royal Irish. Besides these, it sometimes accommodated officers
of other armies, and other uniforms. Of this description, was
the Baron de Kalb, who visited this country probably about the
year 1768 or 1769 ; and who fell a major-general in the army of
the United States at the battle of Camden. Though a German
by birth, he had belonged to the French service, and had returned
to France, after the visit just mentioned. During our revolu-
tionary contest, he came to tender us his services, and returned
no more. The steady and composed demeanour of die Baron,
bespoke the soldier and philosopher ; the man who had calmly
estimated life and death, and who, though not prodigal of the
one, had no unmanly dread of the other. He was not indeed a
young man ; and his behaviour at the time of his death, as I have
heard it described by Mons. Dubuisson, his aid-de-camp, was
exactly conformable to what might have been supposed from his
character.*
• **The representation of the Baron,**— eaye the author in a U8. i
an enthusiast for liberty, whoso sacred cause he crossed the Atlantic to espouse,
is one of the * lame and impotent conclusions * of our republican &natics. He
cared just as much for our liberty, probably, as did the other French subjects
who assisted us under the standard of the Count de Rochambean. He, no dottbC*
thought the occasion favourable for crippling the power of Britain, and of avenging
the loss of Canada. At the same time, he was politic enough to take the tone
of the people he was acting with, and might, therefore, have talked of liberty
with the rest, but he would have deemed it quite sufficient to his fame, to be con.
sidered as at onoe faithful to France and her allies, and of having acquitted him.
self as a brave and accomplished soldier; and this was aU we had to require of
him."
The Baron was born in Germany, about the year 1717. When young, he
entered into the service of France, in which he continued for forty-two years, and
obtained the rank of brigadier-generaL In 1757, during the war betvreen JBng-
land and France, he was sent, by the French government, to the American
LADY MOORE. 65
Another of our foreign guests, was one Badourin, who wore a
white cockade, and gave himself out for a general in the Austrian
service ; but whether general or not, he, one night, very unex-
pectedly left his quarters, making a masterly retreat with the loss
of no other baggage than that of an old trunk, which, when
opened, was found to contain only a few old Latin and German
books. Among the former, was a foHo, bound in parchment,
which I have now before me ; it is a ponderous tract of the mys-
tical Robert Fludd, alias de Fluctibus, prmted at Oppenheim in
the year 1618, and in part dedicated to the duke de Guise, whom
the author informs us he had instructed in the art of war. It is
to this writer probably, that Butler thus alludes in his Hudi-
bras:
He, Anthropoaophat and Floud^
And Jacob Behman understood.
From this work of Mr. Fludd, which amoijg a fund of other
important matter, treats of astrology and divination, it is not im-
probable that its quondam possessor Mr. Badourin, might have
been a mountebank-conjuror, instead of a general.
Among those of rank from Great Britain with whose residence
we were honoured, I recollect lady Moore and her daughter, a
oolooies, in order to learn the points in which they were most vulnerable, and
liow fiir the seeds of discontent mi^ht be sown in them towards the mother
country. He was seized, while in the performance of his commission, as a sus-
pected person, but escaped detection.. He then went to Canada, where he re-
mained until its conquest by the British,, after which he returned to France. In
1777, during the war of the revolution^ he came a second time to the United
Btatee, and offered his services to Congress. They were accepted, and he was
■oon after made a major-general. At first he was placed in the northern army,
but, when the danger which threatened Charleston from the formidable expedition
under Sir Henry Clinton, in 1778, rendered it necessary to reinforce the American
troops in the South, a detachment was sent to them, consisting of the Maryland
and Delaware lines^ which were pujt under bis command. Before he could arrive,
however, at the scene of action. General Lincoln hajd been made prisoner, and the
direction of the whole southern army devolved upon the Baron, until tlie appoint-
ment of General Gates^ On the IMh of A.ugost, Gates was defeated near Cam-
den by Lord Rawdon, and,^ in the battle^ De Kalb, who commanded the right
wing, fell, covered with wounds, while gallantly fighting on foot A tomb was
creeled to his memory, by order of Congress, in the cemetery of Camden. —
Bmey, Amer^— En.
6*
66 LADY MOORE — WOODWARD.
sprightly Miss, not far advanced in her teens, and who having
apparently no dislike to be seen, had more than once attracted
my attention.* For I was just touching that age when such ob-
jects begin to be interesting and excite feelings, which disdain the
invidious barriers, with which the pride of condition would sur-
round itself. Not that the young lady was stately ; my vanity
rather hinted, she was condescendingly courteous; and I had
no doubt, read of women of quality falling in love with their in-
feriors: Nevertheless, the extent of my presumption w^as a look
or a bow, as she now and then tripped along through the entry.
Another was Lady Susan O'Brien, not more distinguished by her
title, than by her husband, who accompanied her, and had figured
as a comedian on the London stage, in the time of Grarrick, Mos-
sop and Barry. Although Churchill charges him with being an
imitator of Woodward,t he yet admits him to be a man of parts ;
* Sir Henry Moore, the last Brituh governor of New York, that I remember*
(sayf Mrs. Grant,) came ap this summer to see Albany and the ornament of
Albany, Aont Scboyler; he brought Lady Moore and hie daughter with him.
This is the same family alluded to in the text, but I was not aware (says the
author in a MS. note) that Sir Henry was governor of New York. Mrs.
Grant and myself, probably not differing much in age, appear nearly at the same
time to have been looking back on the scenes of our youth, and to have broni^ht
to remembrance not only some of the characters, but to have coincided in our
remarks on several subjects. The Miss Moore alluded to, I remember to have
heard, was, some years after the time of this our joint recognition of her« consi-
dered as an elegant woman in England, where, it was said, she led the fashions.
t Woodward, endowed witli various powers of face,
Great master in the science of grimace.
From Ireland ventures, favourite of the town,
LurM by the pleasing prospect of renown ;
A squeaking Harlequin made up of whim.
He twists, he twines, he tortures every limb.
Plays to the eye with a mere monkey's art
And leaves to sense the conquest of the heart.
We laugh, indeed, but on reflection's birth,
We wonder at ourselves, and curse our mirth.
His walk of parU he fatally misplaced.
And inclination fond\y took for taste ;
Hence hath the Town so often seen displayed
Beau in burlesque, high life in masquerade.
But when bold wits, not such as patch up plays.
Cold and correct in these insipid days.
LADY MOO&E — WOODWABD. 67
and he has been said to have surpassed all his cotemporaries in
the character of the fine gentleman; in his easy manner of tread-
ing the stage, and particularly of drawing the sword, to which
action he communicated a swiftness and a grace which Grarrick
imitated, but could not equal.* O'Brien is presented to my
recollection as a man of the middle height, with a symmetrical
form, rather lig^t than athletic. Employed by the father to in-
struct Lady Susan in elocution, he taught her, it seems, that it was
no sin to love ; for she became his wife, and, as I have seen it
mentioned in the Theatrical Mirror, obtained for him, through the
interest of her family, a post in America. But what this post was,
or where it located him, I never heard.
A third person of celebrity and title was sir William Draper,f
Some oomie ohancter, stronsf-featiiredy urge
To probability*! extremett verge»
Where modest jodgmeDt her decree suflpenda^
And for a time» nor censures^ nor commends^
Where critics can*t determine on the spot,
Whether it is in Nature found or not,
There Woodward safely shall his powers exert.
Nor fail of favour where he shows desert.
Henoe he in Bobadil such praises bore.
Such worthy praises, Kitely scarce had more.
ChurehilVt Ro9eiad,^Ev,
* Shadows behind of Foon and WoodwAED came;
Wilkinson this, 0*BaiKN was that name.
Stran^re to relate, but wonderfully true.
That even shadows have their shadows too t
With not a single comic power endued
The first a mere mereonimic's mimic stood.
The last, by nature formed to please, who shows,.
In Johnson's Stephen, which way Genius grows ;
Self quite pat off, affects, with too much art^ '
To put on Woodward in each mangled part ;
Adopt bis shru^, his wink, his stare : nay, more.
His voice and croaks ; lor Woodward croakM before.
When the'dttll copier simple grace neglects.
And rests his Imitation in defects.
We readily forgive ; but such vile arts
Are double guilt in men of real parts.
ChurehiWs Ro$eiad.^ED.
t Vide correspondence in the ** Letters of Junius.** In his celebrated contro-
versy with the ** great unknown,.*' sir William displayed a degree of ability and
68 Snt WILLIAM DRAPER — FRANK RICHARDSON.
who made a tour to this countiy, a short time after his newspaper
encounter with Junius. It has even been suggested that this veiy
incident sent the knight on his travels. Whether or not, it had
so important a consequence, it cannot be denied, that sir William
caught a tartar in Junius ; and that when he commenced his attack,
he had evidently underrated his adversary.
During his stay in Philadelphia, no one was so assiduous in
his attentions to him as Mr. Richardson, better known at that
time by the name of Frank Richardson, then from England on a
visit to his friends. This gentleman was one of the most singular
and successful of American adventurers. The son of one of our
plainest Quakers, he gave early indications of that cast of character
which has raised him to his present station, that of a colonel in
the British guards^ At a time, when such attainments formed no
part of education in Pennsylvania, he sedulously employed him-
self, in acquiring skill in the use of the small sword and the pistol,
as if to shine as a duellist, had been the first objeet of his ambi-
tion. Either for a contempt for the dull pursuits of the '^ home
skill that challenged the admiration even of his relentless adversary. He attained
the rank of General in the Britnh army. He was bom at Bristol, (England)
where his father held the post of coUector of the costoros. He was tboroaghly
educated at Eton and at Cambridge. In 1763, he was " conqaerer of Manilla.'*
He arrived at Charleston, South Carolina^m January, 1770, and during the sum-
mer of that year visited Maryland where be was received with much hospitality.
From Maryland he passed into New- York, and while there, was married to Mira
De Lancey, who died in 1778, leaving him a daughter. In 1779, he was ap.
pointed Lieutenant-Governor of Minorca. He died at Bath, January, 1787.
Wraxall says he was *' a man hardly better known to posterity by his cap-
ture of Manilla^ than by his correspondence with Jvnids. He was endowed
with talents which, whether excited in the field or in the closet, entitled him to
great consideration. His vanity, which led him to caU his house at Clifton, near
Bristol, " Manilla Hall,** and there to erect a cenotaph to his fellow-soldierB, who
fell before that city during the siege exposed him to invidious comments. * *
JuNius*s obligations to his officious friendship for the Marquis of Granby waa
indelible : for, however admirably written may be his letter of the 21st of Janu-
ary, 1769, which opened the series of those celebrated compositions, it was Dra-
per's answer, with his signature annexed to it, that drew all eyes towards the
two literary combatants. Great as were Junids's talents, yet, if he had been
left to exhale his resentment without notice or reply, he might have found it
difficult to concenter on himself the attention of all England. — But, the instant
that Sir William avowedly entered the lists as Lord Granby's champion, a new
interest was awakened in the public mind.." — Ed^
AKECDOTE. 69
keeping youth " of his day, or from the angularity of his propen-
sities repelling association, he was solitary and rarely with com-
panions. Fair and delicate to efiemmacy, he paid great attention
to his person, which he had the courage to invest in scarlet, in
defiance of the society to which he belonged, in whose mind's
eye, perhaps as to that of the blind man of Locke, this colour from
their marked aversion to it, resembles the sound of a trumpet;
and no less in defiance of the plain manners of a city, in which
except on the back of a soldier, a red coat was a phenomenon,
and always indicated a Creole, a Carolinian, or a dancing master.
With these qualifications, and diesa alone, peihaps, Mr. Richard-
son, at an early age, shipped himself for England, where soon,
having the good fortune to establish a reputation for courage by
drawing his sword in behalf of a young man of rank, in a broil at
the theatre, he was received into the best company, and thence
laid the foundation of his preferment Such, at least was the
generally received account of his rise. But whether accurate or
not, his intimate footing wi& sir William, is an evidence of the
style of his company whilst abroad, as well as of the propriety of
his conclusion, that his native land was not his sphere.*
As the stoiy went: on Mr. Richardson's first going to England,
he happened to be in the same lodgings with Foote, the come-
dian, with whom he became intimate. One day upon his coming
out of his chamber, "Richardson," says Foote to him, " a person
has just been asking for you, who expressed a strong desire to
see you, and pretended to be an old Philadelphia acquaintance.
But I knew better, for he was a d— d ill-looking fellow, and I
have no doubt the rascal was a bailiff; so I told him you were
not at home." But here either Foote's sagacity had been at friult,
or he had been playing off a stroke of his humour, the visiter
having really been no other than Mr. , a respectable
* He JB the tame Richardson alluded to in the following extract of a letter fhmi
General Washington to Mr. Reed, dated 14th January, 1776: ^^Mr.Sayre has
been committed to the tower, apon the information of a certain Lieutenant or
Adjatant Richardson (formerly of your city,) for treasonable practices; an inten.
lion of selling his majesty, and possessing himself of the Tower, it is said in
"^The Crisis." Bat he is admitted to bail himself in five hundred pounds, and
two sureties in two hundred and fifty pounds each."— <S^rfts' WrUingi of TfoM.
li^toR, VoL iii. p. 342.— Ed.
to MAJOR ETHEBINGTON.
merchant of Philadelphia, thou^ not a figure the most debonair
to be sure.
From Philadelphia, sir William passed on to New- York, where,
if I mistake not, he married. During his residence in that city,
he frequently amused himself with a game of rackets, which he
played with some address ; and he set no small value on the talent.
There was a mechanic in the place, the hero of the tennis court,
who was so astonishingly superior to other men, that there were
few whom he could not beat with one hand attached to the handle
of a wheelbarrow. Sir William wished to play with him, and was
gratified; the New-Yorker having urbanity enough to cede the
splendid stranger some advantages, and even in conquering, to
put on the appearance of doing it with difficulty: Yet, apart, he
declared that he could have done the same with the mcumbrance
of the wheel-barrow. These are heresay facts: they come, how-
ever, from persons of credit, in the way of being acquainted with
them.
But what imports it the reader to know, that sir William Draper
was a racket-player? Nothing, certainly, unless we reflect, that
he was a conspicuous character, the conqueror of Manilla, and
still more, the literary opponent of Junius. Without granting
something to celebrity of this latter sort, what possible interest
could we take in learning that doctor Johnson liked a leg of pork,
or that he could swaDow twelve or more cups of tea at a sitting?*
Major Greorge Etherington, of the Royal Americans, was an
occasional inmate of our house, fix)m its first establishment on the
large scale, until the time of its being laid down, about the year
1774. He seemed to be always employed in the recruiting ser-
vice, in the performance of which, he had a snug, economical
* Mach attention was paid to sir William, in Philadelphia, and among others
who waited on him was a Mr. Wharton, an old Quaker who, from his pride and
affected dignity of manner, received the title of Duke. Sir William ohserving
that he entered the room and remained with his hat off, begged that as it was
contrary to the custom of his society to do so, he would dispense with this
unnecessary mark of respect But the ** Duke '* feeling his pride piqued at the
supposition that he should uncover to Sir William Draper or to any other man,
promptly corrected the mistake, into which Sir William's considerate politeness
had betrayed him, by bluntly giving him to understand that his being uncovered,
was not intended as a compliment to him, but was for his own convenience and
comSbti — ^the day being warm.— Ed.
BCAJOE ETHEBIH6T0K. 71
method of liis own. He generally dispensed with the noisy cere-
mony of a recruiting coterie ; for having, as it was said, and I
believe truly, passed through the principal grades in its composi-
tion, namely, those of drummer and sergeant, he was a perfect
master of the inveigling arts which are practised on the occasion,
and could fulfil, at a pmch, all the duties himself. The major's
forte was a knowledge of mankind, of low life especially; and he
seldom scented a subject that he did not, in the end, make his
prey. He knew his man, and coidd immediately discover a fish
that would bite: Hence, he wasted no timQ in angling in wrong
waters. His superior height, expansive firame, and muscular
limbs, gave him a commanding air among the vulgar; and, while
enforcing his suit with all the flippancy of haibert elocution, he
fiuniliarly held his booby by the button, his small, black, piercing
eyes, which derived additional animation from the intervention of
a sarcastic, upturned nose, penetrated to the fellow's soul, and
gave him distinct intelligence of what was passing there. In fact,
I have never seen a man with a cast of countenance so extremely
subtile and investigating. I have myself, more than once,
undergone its scrutiny ; for he took a very fiiendly interest in my
welfare, evinced by an occasional superintendance of my educa-
tion, in so far at least, as respects the exterior accomplishments.
Above all things, he enjoined upon me the cidtivation of the
French language, of which he had himself acquired a smattering
firom a temporary residence in Canada; and he gave me a pretty
^arp lecture upon a resolution I had absurdly taken up, not to
learn dancing, from an idea of its being an efifeminate and un-
manly recreation. He combated my folly with arguments, of
which I have since felt the full force; but which, as they turned
upon interests, I was then too young to form conceptions of, they
produced neither conviction nor efiect. Fortunately for me, I
had to deal with a man who was not thus to be baffled. He
Tery properly assumed the rights of mature age and experience,
and accordingly, one day, on my return from school, he accosted
me with, " Come here young man, I have something to say to
you," and with a mysterious air conducted me to his chamber.
Here I found myself entrapped. Godwin, the assistant of Tioli,
the dancing master, was prepared to give me a lesson. Ether-
72 AHSCDOTE.
ington introdaced me to him as the pupil he had been speaking
ofy and saying, he would leave us to ourselves, he politely re-
tired. The arrangement with Tioli was, that I should be attended
in the major's room until I was sufficiently drilled for the public
school ; and the ice thus broken, I went on, and instead of stand-
ing in a comer, like a goose on one leg (the major's comparison)
<< while music softens and while dancing fires," I became qualified
for the enjoyment of female society, in one of its most captivating
forms.
Major Etherington had a brother in the rank of a cq>tain, so
like himself, as to realize the stoiy of the two Sodas, and to re-
move half the improbability of the plot of Shakspeare's Comedy
of Errors. Any one, at a first si^t, might have mistaken the
one for the other, at least I did, for a moment; but on a close
inspection it would be discovered, that the captain was more
scant in his proportions, as well as several years younger tiban
his brother. Tom, for so the captain was &miliarly called by
the major, had taken his turn to recruit in Philadelphia, while his
superior was employed elsewhere. From a comparatively weaker
discernment of human character, he had enlisted a lad and con*
verted him into his waiting man, whom George, on a junc*
tion which soon after took place, pronounced to be a fool, and
wholly unfit for a soldier. This the captain denied strenuously,
and the question became the firequent topic of good humoured
altercation between them, until an incident occurred, which gave
the major an unequivocal triumph. One morning very early, the
brothers lodging in the same apartment, this recruit, and for the
first time, common servant of the two, softly approached the bed
of the major, and gently tapping him on the shoulder to awaken
him, very sapiently inquired, if he might clean his shoes. Greorge,
with infinite presence of mind, replied, that it was not material,
but " go," says he, " and ask my brother Tom if you may clean
his." The poor fellow did as he was bid, and probably as he
would have done if he had not been bidden ; and Tom's slumbers
became victims also, to the same momentous investigation. The
major took care to relate the circumstance at the breakfast table,
and, of course, obtained a unanimous suffiage to his opinion, that
the captain's recruit was not exceeding wise.
MAJOB ETHERINGTO^ — ^AKECDOTK. 73
Althou^ Etherington was extremely deficient in literature, few
persons possessed more acuteness of intellect, or a happier talent
for prompt replication. A warm dispute having one day taken
place at the coflee-house, between Mr. Bradford, who kept it,
and Mr. Delancey of New York, in which the parties appeared
to be proceeding to blows, major Etherington stepped between
tfaem and separated them. The next day, on a supposition of
partiality to Delancey, he was roundly taken to task by Bradford.
He observed, that he had merely interfered as a common firiend
to both. "No sir," said Bradford, "you were the decided
champion of Delancey, you laid your hands upon me, and kept
your fece to me, while your back was turned to him." " Very
well then, sir," said Etherington, with quickness, " I treated you
politely, and Mr. Delancey with a rudeness for which I owe him
an apology." A ready, unexpected turn of this kind, has always
a good effect on the bystanders, and they accordmgly lent their
aid in restoring good humour.*
As I have said that the major commenced his military career in
the humblest walks of his profession, the reader may expect to
hear of the exploits which produced his extraordinary promotion.
* There is another instance of his mental readiness, I had introdaoed into my
manuscript, but which I was advised to suppress, as it was supposed to offer
matter for malignant interpretation. But as I find my mother's character is
well understood and remembered, I see no objection to introducing* it now ; nor
ftr my own part, did I before* The major, one day, in passing the kitchen door,
reoeired upon his clothes a little dirty water which Miss Ann Burgess, the elderly
Qaaker lady, already mentioned as one of the family, had, without seeing him,
cast out of a bowU The major was more disturbed at the accident than might
have been expected from one of his character, and was not quite appeased by the
evident concern and all the excuses the culprit could make, when slie thought
proper to set before him the conduct of Major Small, when a precisely similar
aecident which some time before had happened to him from tbe hands of my
mother, aggravated, too, by the circumstance of his having been full dressed for
an assembly, a toilet labour no less arduous with him, than the five hours work
of the haughty Celia of dwift Instead, said she, of Major SmalPs refusing to
be Mlisfied with her apologies, he made her a low bow, begged that she would
be wider no concern about the matter, and, very respectfully, walked np to her
end kissed her. Then t am to kiss yoU| t suppose, Eh ! said Etherington. This
Incky hit, while it alarmed and completely embarrassed the maidenly preciseness
ef tbe old lady, not aware thai she had given an opening for it, put Ethermgton
iato a good homoiir and amicably terminated thv affair*
7
74 MAJOB i:therington.
But it was not to martial prowess that he owed it. The world
gave out, that a certain wealthy widow of the county of New
Castle, became enamoured of him, and first purchased him a
commission. His saving knowledge soon enabled him to pur-
chase a better one, and from a captaincy, the station in which I
first knew him, he had risen to that of a colonel, when I last saw
him in Philadelphia, just at the approach of the war. What then
brought him there is uncertain. He was, however, taken notice
of by the committee of safety; required to hasten his departure,
and in the mean time, put under his parole. He endeavoured to
make a jest of the matter, by assuring them, that they need not
be under the least apprehension of his going an inch nearer to the
scene where fighting was to be looked for. He several times
called to see us while in town, and observing me in the li^t in-
fantry uniform, he undertook to recommend to me, between
banter and earnest, that if t inclined to a military life, at once to
get a commission in the British service, which he would charge
himself to procure for me : That as to our idle parade of war, it
would vanish in smoke, or, if seriously persisted in, would infalli-
bly terminate in our disgrace, if not ruin. I asked him if he had
been to see us exercise. "Oh no," said he, "that would be
highly improper ; we make it a point in the army never to look
at awkward men; we hold it unpolite.'^ The colonel was no
doubt correct in his opinion of our tactics ; though I was nettled
a little at his contemptuous manner of treating us. But I here
dismiss him with the observation, that he was a singular man,
who knew the world and turned that knowledge to his advantage.
He had certainly much mental ability, and of a cast, which he
himself conceived would have well qualified him for the bar ; a
profession, for which, he has told me, nature intended him. In
this estimate of his talents, however, it is not itopfobable, that he
might have attributed too much to management and chicane,
which had essentially availed him in the business of recruiting :
For he valued himself upon them here ; and I well remember
that upon my mother's telling him of captain Anstruther, vrho
had recruited in his absence, sending a drum about before he left
the city, to proclaim, that if any one had been aggrieved by him
or his party,* to call upon him and he should be redressed, be re*
GENERAL £EID— WARREN. 75
plied — " And was'nt he a d d fool for his pams?" In men-
tioning captain Anstruther it occurs to me, that he may be the
same who is stated to have fallen as a general officer in the battle
of Corunna.
There were two other majors, with whose company we were a
long time favoured. These were Majors Small and Fell; and if
names had any appropriation to the persons of those who bear
them, these might very well have been interchanged ; for Small
was a stout, athletic man, who might be supposed to possess a
capacity for felling, while the other w^as one of the smallest men
I have seen. Some one asking, one day, if major Small was at
home? "No," says Fell, "but the small major is." Small is a
principal figure in Trumbull's print of the death of Warren. He
is represented in the humane attitude of putting aside with his
sword, a British bayonet, aimed at the breast of the dying patriot.*
Another officer of the British army, who was some time our in-
mate, is suggested by a notice of his death in the Monthly Maga-
zine of March, 1807. This was GenenJ John Reid, who is stated
to have died in his 87th year, the oldest officer in the service. In
this account of him, it is said, that in the meredian of his life,
he was esteemed the best gentleman German flute performer in
England: that he was also particularly famed for his taste in the
composition of military music, and that his marches are still ad-
mired. This gentleman was a colonel at the time I speak of him.
His fame as a performer on the flute I recollect, as also to have
heard him play : but probably I was too little of a connoiseur to
duly appreciate his talents. I cannot say that my expectations were
fidly amswered; his tones were low and sweet, but the tunes he
played were so disguised and overloaded with variations, as with
me to lose much of their melody.
From these gentlemen of the army, I pass to one of the navy,
rude and boisterous as the element to which he belonged. His
name I think was Wallace, the commander of a ship of war on
the American station, and full fraught, perhaps, with^he ill humour
of the mother country towards her colonies, which she was already
* See Appendix C, for on interesting accoant of the battle of Bunker's
HUL-E©.
76 CAPTAIN WAUUACEr— JOSEPH CHURCH.
begimuiig to goad to independence. His character upon die
coast, was that of being insolent and brutal beyond his peers ;
and his deportment as a lodger, was altogether of a piece with it.
Being asked by my mother, who, by the desire of the gentlemen,
was in the custom of taking the head of her table, if he would be
helped to a dish that was near her, ^^ Damme, madam," replied
the ruffian, '^it is to be supposed that at a public table every man
has a right to help himself, and this I mean to do.'' With a tear
in her eye ^e besought him to pardon her, assuring him that in
future he should not be offended by her officiousness.
At another time, when Joseph Church of Bristol, who has
already been mentioned as a friend of the family, was in town
and at our house, which, in his visits to the city, he always made
his home, my mother mentioned to the gentlemen, who were
about sitting down to supper, but three or four in number, of
whom captain Wallace was one, that there was a friend of hers in
the house, a very honest, plain man of the society of Friends, and
begged to know if it would be agreeable to them that he should
be brought in to supper. They all readily assented, and none
with more alacrity than Wallace. Accordingly Mr. Church was
introduced, and sat down. During supper, the captain directed
his chief discourse to him, interlarded with a deal of very course
and insolent raillery on his broad brim, &c. Church bore, it all
very patiently until after supper, when he at length ventured to
say — '^ Captain, thou has made very free with me, and asked me
a great many questions, which I have endeavoured to answer to
thy satisfaction : Wilt thou now permit me to ask thee one in my
turn?" "Oh, by all means," exclaimed the captain, "anything
that you please, friend— what is it?" " Why, then, I wish to be
informed, what makes thee drink so often ; art thou really dry
every time thou earnest the liquor to thy mouth?" This was a
home thrust at the seaman, whose frequent potations had already
produced a degree of intoxication. At once, forgetting the
liberties he had taken, and the promise he had given of equal
freedom in return, he broke out into a violent rage, venting him-
self in the most indecent and illiberal language, and vociferating,
with an unlucky logic which recoiled upon himself— "What? do
you think I am like a hog, only to driidc when I am dry?" But
mVINGTONi THE PRINTER. 77
matters had gone too far for a reply; and the object of his w*rath
very prudently left the table and the room as expeditiously as
possible. It cannot be denied, that there was some provocation
in the question proposed : but he knows little of the Quaker cha-
racter, who does not know, that the non-resisting tenent does
not prohibit the use of dry sarcasm, which here was unquestion-
ably in its place.
It would be easy to extend these biographical details ; but niy
materials, at best, are too deficient in interest to warrant much
presumption on the patience of the reader: I shall therefore only
add to the list, the names of Hancock* and Washington, each of
whom had at dififerent times sojourned at our caravansary.
Yet another, of some eminence, though not exactly in the same
kind, whom I ought not to omit, was Rivington, the printer, of
New York. This gentleman's manners and appearance were
sufficiently dignified ; and he kept the best company. He was
an everlasting dabbler in theatrical heroics. Othello, was the
character in which he liked best to appear ; and converting hLs
auditory into the " most potent, grave and reverend signiors'^ of
Venice, he would deliver his unvanushed tale :
** Her fiitber loVd me, oft wf ited me,'* &c.
With the same magic by which the listening gentlemen were
turned into senators, my mother was transformed into Desde-
mona; and firom the frequent spoutings of Rivington, the officers
of the 42d regiment, and others, who were then in the house,
became familiarized to the appellation^ and appropriated it.
Thus, Desdemona, or rather Desdy, for shortness, was the name
she generally afterwards went by among that set of lodgers ; and,
I recollect the concluding line of a poetical eflusion of Lieute-^
nant Ramsey of the 42d, on occasion of some trifling fracas^ to^
have been —
** For Desdy, belleye me, yoci doa't become airs !**
In the daily intercourse with her boarders, which my mother's,
custom of sitting at the head of her table induced, such fami-
liarities might be excused. They were only to be repelled, at
* For a Sketch of the Life and Character of Hancock, lee Appendix D.^Eo.
7*
78
least, by a formal austerity of manner, v^ch was neither natural
to her, nor for her interest to assume. The cause of umbrage
i¥as a midnight riot, perpetrated by Rumsey, Rivington and Doc-
tor Kearsley, in which the doctor, mounted on horseback, rode
into the back parlour, and even up stairs, to the great disturbance
and terror of the family ; for, as it may well be supposed, there
was a direful clatter. Qiuidrupedante sanUu quatU ungtUa
domum*
BlSrOSBS OF IDLEHXaS. 79
CHAPTER m.
Hie Aathor inixM Id new Soeielyd— If daatiiied fbr the Lew^— Hie eharacCeriiUc
Indoleoca — ^American playen,r—AnecdoteSd-— Dramatic Poetry.— Aathor*8 pv-
■aits. — Debating Society ^ — Metaphysical lubtletieSd — Caoies of yoathfnl foL
liee^ — ^Letten of JoniiiB^ — IVunoc Gispipina. — Mr. Duchd.
About the year 1769 or 1770, my grandfather died. My in-
attention to date9 disqualifies me for fixing the year, nor is it ma-
terial. His disorder was a complication of dropsy and asthma.
I well remember being with him a few evenings before his death,
and seldom saw him in better spirits. He was anticipating my
future consequence in life; and, as like too many others, I was
destined in vain,
I^une robe a hng$ plUoalayer U borTeau-^
To sweep, with fbll-eleeVd robe, the doety bar.*
He was making himself merry with the fancy of my strutting with
my full-bottomed periwig and small sword, the costume he attached
to a bannister of law, as he was pleased to term what in England is
called a barrister. But it will be recollected, that I have already
said that the old gentleman was a German, no great adept in English,
and let me add, no great scholar in any language ; although his man-
ners were those of a man of the worid, and a firequenter of good
company, somewhat blunt, however, and occasionally facetious.
The story of the toper and flies, worked up into an ode by Peter
Pindar, I have more than once heard related of him. The scene
was laid in Philadelphia, where, being at a friend^ house to dine,
* This qaotatioo would apply better, or at leart more literally^ if gowni had
been worn at our bar*
80 DAK6EBS OF IDLENESS.
and asked to take some pimch before dinner, he found several
flies in the bowl. He removed them with a spoon, took his drink,
and with great deliberation was proceeding to replace them,
" Why, what are you doing, Mr. Marks,"* exclaimed the enter-
tainer, "putting ffies into the bowl ?" " Why, /don't like them,"
said he, "but I did not know but you might," — ^his mode of
suggesting that the bowl should have been covered ; for decanters
and tumblers, be it observed, are a modem refinement in the ap-
paratus of punch drinking. Whether the story really originated
with my grandfather, and travelled fit)m the continent to the
islands, where Doctor Wolcott picked it up ; or whether the hu-
mour was of insular origin, and merely borrowed and vamped up
by my grandfather, I pretend not to decide, but certain it is, that
he had the credit of it in Philadelphia, many years before the
works of Peter Pindar appeared.
If want of occupation, as we are told, is the root of all evil,
my youth was exposed to very great dangers. The interval be-
tween my leaving the academy, and being put to the study of the
law at about the age of sixte^i, was not less than eighteen
months ; an invaluable period, lost in idleness and unprofitable
amusement. It had the efiect to estrange me for a time firom my
school-companions, and, in their stead, to bring me acquainted
with a set of young men, whose education and habits had* been
wholly different firom my own. They were chiefly designed for
the sea, or engaged in the less humiliatmg mechanical employ-
ments ; and were but the more to my taste for afiecting a sort of
rough independence of manners, which appeared to me manly.
They were not, however, worthless ; and such of them as were
destined to become men and citizens, have, with few exceptions,
filled their parts in society with reputation and respectability. As
I had now attained that stage in the progress of the mind, in
which
Neglected Tray and Pointer lie
And oovies unmolested fly,
the void was supplied by an introduction into the fair society,
with which these young men were in the habit of associating. It
* Joeeph Mtfka; th^ name migh\ have horn mentioned befbre..
FEBCALE SOCIETY — ^LOYE. 81
consisted generally of Quakers ; and tbere was a witching one
unong tliem, with whom, at a first interview in a party on the
water, I became so violently enamoured, as to have been up^
perhaps, to the part of a Romeo or a Pyramus, had the requisite
train of untoward circumstances ensued. But as there were no
feuds between our houses, nor unnatural parents to ^^ forbid what
they could not prohibit,'' the matter in due time, passed off with-
out any dolorous catastrophe. Nor was it long before I was
translated into a new set of female acquaintance, in which I found
new objects to sigh for. Such, indeed, I was seldom, if ever,
without, during the rest of my nonage ; and with as little reason,
perhaps, as any one, to complain of adverse stars. Nevertheless,
I should hesitate in pronouncing this season of life happy. If its
enjoyments are great, so are its solicitudes; and aldiou^ it
should escape the pangs of "sli^ted vows and cold disdain," it
yet is racked by a host of inquietudes, doubt, distrust, jealousy,
hope deferred by the firustration of promised interviews, and
wishes sickening under the weight of obstacles too mighty to be
surmounted. In the language of the medical poet.
** The whoIeBoine appetitM and powen of life
DtMolve in languor. Your cheerfbl days are gone ;
The generous bloom that fluBh*d your ebeeka, is fled.
To sighs devoted and to tender pains,
Pensive jon sit, or solitary stray,
And waste your youth in musing.**
But the peril of fine eyes, was not the only one which beset
me. During my residence in the State-house, I had contracted
an intimacy with the second son of Doctor Thomas Bond, who
lived next door; a connexion which continued for several years.
He was perhaps a year older than myself, and had, in like man-
ner, abandoned his studies, and prematurely bidden adieu to the
college of Princeton. Handsome in his person, in his manner,
confident and assured, he had the most lordly contempt for the
opinion of the world, that is, the sober world, of any young man
I have known ; as well as a precocity in fashionable vices, equalled
by few, and certainly exceeded by none. Admiring his talents
82 BICHA&D BOND.
luid accomplishments, I willingly yielded him the lead in our
amusements, happy in emulating his degagee air and rakish ap-
pearance. He it was who first introduced me to the fascination
of a billiard-table, and initiated me into the other seductive arcana
of city dissipation. He also showed me where beardless youth
might find a Lethe for its timidity, in the form of an execrable
potion called wine, on the very moderate terms of two and six
pence a quart. At an obscure inn in Race street, dropping in
about dark, we were led by a steep and narrow stair-case to a
chamber in the third story, so lumbered with beds as scarcely to
leave room for a table and one chair, the beds superseding the
necessity of more. Here we poured down the fiery beverage ;
and valiant in the novel feeling of intoxication, sallied forth in
quest of adventures. Under the auspices of such a leader, I
could not fail to improve ; nor was his progress less promoted by
so able a second. In a word, we aspired to be rakes, and were
gratified. Mr. Richard Bond, was the favourite of his father,
studied physic under him, and notwithstanding his addiction to
pleaspe, would probably have made a respectable figure in his
profession : for he had genixis, no fondness for liquor, no unusual
want of application to business, and vanity, perhaps, more than
real propensity, had prompted his juvenile excesses. But he was
destined to finish his career at an early age, by that fatal disease
to youth, a pulmonary consumption. He had a presentiment of
this, and firequently said when in health, it would be his mortal
distemper. Yet his firame seemed not to indicate it : he had a pro-
minent chest, with a habit inclined to fiilness. Our intimacy had
ceased for some time before his death. I know not why, unless
he had been alienated by a latent spark of jealousy, in relation to
a young lady, for whom we both had a partiality ; mine, indeed,
slight and evanescent ; his, deep and more lasting, and which, I
have understood, only ended with his life.
As it was necessary I should be employed, the choice of a
vocation for me, had for some time engaged the attention of my
near connexions. The question was, whether I should be . a
merchant, a physician, or a lawyer. My inclinations were duly
consulted. I had no predilection for either, though I liked the
law the least of the three, being sensible that my talents were not
CHOICE OF A PBOFESSION. 83
(rf'the cast which would enable me to succeed in that profession.
I searched my composition in vain, for the materials that would
be required. If they were there, the want of fortitude to bring
them forth, would be the same as if they were not; and this
seemed a deficiency I could never supply. To rise at the bar
with due gravity and recollection ; to challenge the attention of
the court, the juiy, and the by-standers; to confide in my ability
to do justice to a good cause ; to colour a bad one by the re-
quisite artifice and stimulation ; and to undertake to entertain by
my rhetoric, where I must necessarily fail to convince by my
logic, I felt to be a task far beyond my strength; and I shuddered
at it, in idea only, even in my most sanguine, self-complacent
moments. To what this infirmity, inaccurately termed diffidence,
is owing, or whether it be a defect m the mental or bodily powers,
is not, I believe, ascertained ; yet it exists to a degree scarcely super-
able in some, while in others, it is a sensation almost unknown.
It appears, however, to be considerably under the influence of
education, since, if felt at all, it never shows itself in a thorough
bred Quaker: neither do we suppose it to exist in a Frenchman,
thou^ the phrase mauvaise hontey is a proof that the imbecility
has been recognised by the nation ; a circumstance we might be
led to doubt, too, from the account given by Doctor Moore of the
National Assembly.* He tells us, that of the great number of
members of which it was composed, there appeared to be none
who could not express themselves with perfect freedom and ease ;
and that there seemed to be a continual competition for the pos-
session of the tribune. How different, he observes, from an as-
sembly of Englishmen! I might add, of Americans! But that
the feeling is natural, if indeed there could be a doubt of it ; that
it was known to the ancients, and that it is not merely an effect
of modem manners, is evinced from the following lines of Petro-
nius on DreamSj in which the trepidation is not only recognised,
but very strongly depicted.
* There is a Btrikin^ ooincidence between these observations and the follow-
ing, in Miss Edgeworth^s nofel of ** Patronage.** ** Strange that France should
([ire a name to that maladj of mind which she never knew, or of which sh6
knows lest than any other nation, upon the surface of the cinliied globe !**
84 DIFVIDENCS — SHUYAISE HOOfTE*
** Qui caiiMi onra loleBt, legesqne fimunqw
£t pavido oernnnt inclainm oorde tribonaL**
I have said it is inaccurately termed diffidence : it rather ap-
pears to me, to proceed from too much pride and self-attention, a
kind of morbid sensibility, ever making selfihe principal figure
in the scene, and overweeningly solicitous for the respect of the
audience : dreading, in equal degree, its contempt and the humi-
liation of a failure. Hence, as one that is too fearful of falling
will never excel in the hazardous exercises, such as riding and
skating, so the destined public speaker who will not risk a &]],
can never expect to succeed. If he is too fastidious to submit to
occasional humiliation, he must undergo the perpetual one of
being really, as well as reputedly unqualified for his profession.
Some diffidence or distrust of our powers, does, no doubt, attend
the species of mauvaise hanie we are speaking of; but it is more
often, I believe, the distrust of being able to display the talents
we possess, or at least ascribe to ourselves^ than an underrating
of them ; and appears to have its primary cause, as already said,
in a temperament of too much susceptibUity to shame, — and if so,
the French have given it a very proper appellation.
But notwithstanding my conviction of an inaptitude for the bar,
it was, however, the profession assigned me. I had declared for
the study of physic, and overtures had accordingly been made to
a practitioner of eminence, but he happening at the time to have
as many students as he wanted, declined taking another. Failing
here, it was deemed inexpedient any longer to defer placing me
somewhere. I had certainly been already too long unemployed ;
and my uncle, (the executor of my father's will, in conjunction
with my mother) who had all along been desirous that I should
go to the bar, his own profession, again recommended it ; and
proposed taking me into his own family, where, by his assistance,
the use of his library, which was a very ample one, and an occa-
sional attention to the business of his office, that of Prothono*
tary of the Common Pleas, which, he held as deputy of the late
Governor Hamilton, then residing at Bushhill, I had the means of
acquiring a knowledge of the law, both as to principle and piao
tice ; and the proposal being in many respects el^ble and agree*
AUTHOE BEGINS THE STUDY OF LAW. 85
able, was embraced. I was sensible that it was no less to my
advantage than reputation, that I should be doing something :
there was no one, with whom, in the character of a master, I could
expect to be more pleasantly situated than with my uncle, who
was a man of unbounded benevolence and liberality; and my
imagination went to castle-building in the remote prospect of a
trip to England, for the purpose of completing my education at
the temple ; for whatever may be the case now, this was the grand
desideratum or summum bomtm with the aspiring law-youth of
my day. As to the sober part of the calculation, whether the
occupation I was about to embrace was adapted to my talents,
would conmiand my application, and be likely to afford me the
means of future subsistence, it was put aside for the more imme^^
diately grateful considerations already mentioned. I cannot
venture to pronounce, however, that the medical profession would
have suited me much better. In truth, I was indolent to a great
d^;ree ; and with respect to that heroic fortitude which subdues
the mind to its purposes, withdraws it at will from the flowery
paths of pleasure, and forces it into the thorny road of utility,
the distinguishing trait in the character of Caesar, and which
justifies the poet in designating him as "the world's great master,
and his ot^n," I have very little to boast of. I was ever too easily
seduced by the charm of present gratification, and my general
mood in youth, was an entire apathy to gainful views. With the
strongest inclination to be respectable in life, and even with am-
bition to aspire to the first rank in my professsion, I yet felt an
invincible incapacity for mingling in the world of business, the
only means by which my desire could be gratified. My imagina*
tion, almost ever in a state of listless, amorous delirium.
Where honour ■till,
And great deai^) against the oppremive loadi
By fits, impatient heavedi
coidd rarely be brought down to the key of sober occupation, or
attuned to the flat Jusque nefasque of the sages of the law ;* and
* Thit state of mind is admirably represented by this short passage in Wa^
tarley : '*aU that was conmoo^placet all that belonged to the OTery-day world,
was melted away, and obliterated in these dreams of imagination.**
8
GO HIS CHARACTERISTIC INDOLENCE.
my acquaintance with them, was of course, a very slight one.
Were we justified in laying our unthriftiness on nature, I might
say, that she never intended me for a man of business. If she
has denied me the qualifications of an advocate, she has not cer-
tainly been more liberal to me of those of a trafficker; for whether
it be owing to pride, to dulness, to laziness, or to impatience, I
could never excel in driving a bargain : And as to that spirit of
commercial enterprise or speculation, which only asks the use of
money to increase it, I never possessed a spark of it; and conse-
quently, though I have sometimes had cash to spare, it rarely, if
ever, was employed ; for the very good reason, that commodities
in my hands, always turned out to be drugs. In thus character-
izing myself, I affect not singularity: for the discomfort of my
declining age, I but depict myself too truly.
A short time before the epoch of my becoming a student of
law, the city was visited by the company of players, since styling
themselves. The old American company. They had for several
years been exhibiting in the islands, and now returned to the
continent in the view of dividing their time and labours between
Philadelphia and New- York. At Boston,
they did not appear,
So peevish was the edict of the may'r,
or at least of those authorities which were charged with the cus-
tody of the public morals. The manager was Douglas, rather a
decent than shining actor, a man of sense and discretion, married
to the widow Hallam, whose son Lewis, then in full culmination,
was the Roscius of the theatre. As the dramatic heroes were all
fds without a competitor, so the heroines were the exclusive pro-
perty of Miss Cheer, who was deemed an admirable performer.
The singing department was supplied and supported by the
voices of Wools and Miss Wainwright, said to have been pupils
of doctor Ame; while in the tremulous drawl of the old man, in
low jest and buffoonery, Morris, thence the minion of the gallery,
stood first and unrivalled. As for the Tomlinsons, the Walls,
the Aliens, &c., they were your bonifaces, your Jessamys, your
Mock Doctors, and what not. On the female side, Mrs. Douglas
was a respectable, matron-like dame, stately or querulous as oc-
PHILADELPHIA THEATBICALS. 87
casion required, a veiy good Gertrude, a truly appropriate lady
Randolph with her white handkerchief and her weeds ; but then,
to applaud, it was absolutely necessary to forget, that to touch
the heart of the spectator had any relation to her function: Mrs.
Harman bore away the palm as a duenna, and Miss Wainwright
as a chambermaid. Although these were among the principal
performers at first, the company was firom time to time essentially
improved by additions: Among these, the Miss Storers, Miss
Hallam and Mr. Henry, were valuable acquisitions ; as was also
a Mr. Goodman, who had read law in Philadelphia with Mr.
Ross. This topic may be disgusting to persons of gravity ; but
human manners are my theme, as well in youth as in age. Each
period has its play things; and if the strollers of Thespis have not
been thought beneath the dignity of Grecian history, this notice
of the old American stagers may be granted to the levity of me-
moirs.
Whether there may be any room for comparison between these,
the old American company, and the performers of the present
day, I venture not to say. Nothing is more subject to fashion
than the style of public exhibitions ; and as the excellence of the
Lacedemonian black broth, essentially depended, we are told,
on the appetite of the feeder, so, no doubt, does the merit of
theatrical entertainments: I cannot but say, however, that in my
opinion, the old company acquitted themselves with most anima-
tion and glee — they were a passable set of comedians. Hallam
had merit in a number of characters and was always a pleasing
performer. No one could tread the stage with more ease : Upon
it, indeed, he might be said to have been cradled, and wheeled
in his go-cart. In tragedy, it cannot be denied, that his decla-
mation was either mouthing or ranting ; yet a thorough master of
all the tricks and finesse of his trade, his manner was both grace-
fid and impressive, " tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, a
broken voice, and his whole function suiting with forms to his
conceit." He once ventured to appear in Hamlet either at
Drury lane or Covent Garden, and was endured. In the account
given of his performance, he is said not to have been to the taste
of a London audience, though he is admitted to be a man of a
pleasing and interesting address. He was, however, at Philadel-
OO AN£CDOTE«
phia, as much the soul of the Southwark theatre, as ever Ganick
was of Druiy lane ; and if, as doctor Johnson allows, popularity
in matters of taste is unquestionable evidence of merit, we cannot
withhold a considerable portion of it from Mr. HaUam, notwith-
standing his faults.
The subject of this old company, opens the door to a trifling
anecdote of a very early origin. Over their stage, in imitation
of the sons of Drury^ they have fixed the motto of Toius mundus
agit /nstrionem — The whole world act the player. Some young
ladies, one evening, among whom was one of my aunts, applied
to the gentleman who attended them for the meaning of the words.
Willing to pass himself off for a scholar, and taking for his clew,
probably, the word mundusy he boldly interpreted them into —
" We act Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays," and the ladies
were satisfied. But, to the lasting disquiet of the unlucky beau,
they were not long after undeceived by some of their more learned
acquaintance.
Although the theatre must be admitted to be a stimulous to
those vices, which something inherent in our nature renders es-
sential to the favoured hero of the comic drama and the novel, it
was yet useful to me in one respect. It induced me to open
books which had hitherto lain neglected on the shelf. A little
Latin, and but a little, was the chief fruit of my education. I
was tolerably instructed in the rudiments of grammar, but in no-
thing else. I wrote a very indifferent hand, and spelled still
worse than I wrote. I knew little or nothing of arithmetic ; that,
as a branch of the mathematics, being taught in the academy after
the languages. But now I became a reader of plays, and parti-
cularly of those of Shakspeare, of which I was an ardent and un-
affected admirer. From these I passed to those of Otway and
Rowe, and the other writers of tragedy, and thence to the English
poets of every description. Poetry, indeed, has continued to be
my favourite reading; and when I feel disposed to read aloud, it
is always my choice. From being wholly unapprised of the
structure of the sentences, and the place of the pauses in prose,
the reading of it requires much greater attention to the manage-
ment of the breath ; and is therefore to me, much the most diffi-
cult and laborious. Nor has my bias for metrical compositions
DRAMATIC POETRY. 89
been confined to the English authors. A small knowledge of
French has enabled me to make acquaintance with the Henriade
of Voltaire, the poems of Boileau, and those of some other writers ;
and that it has not been more general, has principally been owing
to want of books. Nevertheless, I cannot but subscribe to the
decree of the English critics, that the French is not the language
of the Muses, at least in their sublimer moods. What, for in-
stance, can be more completely unharmonious and halting, than
these lines m the Henriade, which appear to have been con-
siderably laboured to the end of producing a grand effect ?
** On entendoit ^ronder ces bombes effroyablei,
De troubles de la Flandre enfanta abominables,
I^ salt p^tre enfooc^ dans ces globes d*arain,
Part, s'echauffe, s^embrase, et 8*ecarte loudaio ;**
"Cannons and kettle drums — sweet numbers these." The term
ialt pitre^ though no doubt susceptible of elegance in French
poetry, since it is used by one of its greatest masters, would in
ours, set all collocation at defiance ; and could appear in no other
metre than doggerel. Observations, however, of this kind should
not be dogmatically urged, since how far our taste for melody
may be natural or artificial, is not easy to ascertain. But cer-
tainly the music of French numbers is extremely flat and mono-
tonous to an English ear, though, to a French one, our best-.
sounding measure may be sing song no less vapid.
In the Latin classics too, I have been a dipper ; and the best
of my progress in that language is to be ascribed to my fondness
for its poetry. Why was I not, when at school, imbued with the
same relish! I might then have been a scholar, and the whole
body of Roman poetry, the Corpus omnium veierum poetarum
latinorumy (a huge, unwieldy tome, which had belonged to my
father) in a chronological series from Andronicus and Ennius to
Maurus Terentianus, might have been at my finger ends ; whereas
now, only scraps of it are occasionally elicited with difficulty,
either when disposed to learn, upon what subjects it was that Lu-
cretius, Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Lucanus, Statins, &c. &c.
had respectively employed their pens; or when I would follow
Mr. Gibbon in his references to the poets of later times, the Cal-
8»
9Q author's pursuits.
phumius's, the Nemesianus's, the Claudianus's, the Pnidentius's
and Sidonius's. Still, according to my manner, this was but a
species of amusement, the duke without a particle of the uHkj to
me who had no manner of concern with the decline of the Roman
empire or the songsters which belonged to it. It was not however
Latin, but English poetry, which first led me astray: I did not, it
is true, pen stanzas^ but I often read them when I should have
en^ossed; I had, as Junius says of sir William Draper, "the
melancholy madness of poetry without the inspixation."
The only project I embraced which promised advantage to me
in my profession, or indicated a serious design to pursue it, was
my joining a society of young men, instituted for the purpose of
disputing on given subjects, as well as of reciting passages firom
the English classics. It chiefly consisted of law students, though
there were some among us who were designed for the pulpit; and
the members were generally such as had obtained degrees in the
seminaries either of Princeton or Philadelphia. The first question
in which I wa3 appointed to take a part, was that very hackneyed
one, "Whether a public or a private education is to be pre-
ferred.'* There were two on each side ; and our reasonings were
reduced to writing and read in fiiU assembly, where the president
pro tempore made his decision, I soon discovered that the argu-
ments I had to reply to, though proceeding from one of hi^
reputation for scholarship, had been borrowed almost word for
word from Rollins's belles-lettres. Restrained by delicacy firom
exposing the plagiarism, I answered them as well as I could firom
my own resources, and had some allowances made me, since it
had become pretty weU known, that Rollin was my real antago-
nist. In fact, my opponent would hardly have ventured to put
himself so much in my power by stealing firom so common a
book, had he not calculated pretty largely on my unacquaintance
with any books. It next fell to me to propoimd a question ; and
having not long before met with one in a magazine which was
suggested as a curious subject of investigation, I submitted it to
the assembly. It was, " Whether there be most pleasure in the
reception, or communication of knowledge." As proposer of the
question I had the choice of my side, as well as the conclusion
of the argument ; and I declared for the " communicatioiu" As
METAPHYSICAL SUBTLETIES. 91
this was a subject on which school books gave no lig^t, the dis-
putants had to draw solely from their own funds ; and in some,
there was a considerable falling off. To me the topic was as new
as to any of tbem ; but my production had the good fortune to
be approved, and to aid in obtaining the decision of the president.
But I jsoon became weary of this scholastic employment. It ap-
peared to me both puerile and pedantic ; and the formality of
addressing the chair with the feigned gravity of a pleader, re-
quired a kind of grimace I felt myself awkward at. Indeed, the
two orations I had written, like that of Cicero for Milo, were not
delivered by their author, who did not appear; but they were
read for me by my friend and fellow-student, Andrew Robeson.
I once, however, with this same gentleman, risked my declaiming
powers, in a scene of Venice Preserved; but in what character I
appeared I do not remember.
I also involved myself about this period, in metaphysical
subtleties; and with Mr. James Hutchinson, the late Doctor
Hutchinson, who then lived with Bartram, the apothecary, and
with whom I had become intimate, I frequently reasoned upon
fate, " fixed fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute," &c. Our
acquaintance found cement in the circumstances of our both being
Bucks county men and exactly of an age. The doctor's father,
Randal Hutchinson, a Quaker, did the mason-work of my father's
house at Fairview;* and agreeably to the custom in the country,
resided with him while employed in it From family tradition,
for I do not remember old Randal, he was what might be called
a queer put. Being once called upon for his song on occasion of
a litde merriment, he declined it with the dry remark that he could
do his own singing : and so indeed it appeared, as he was in the
habit every evening after work, of sin^ng out in rustic drone to
his hands assembled round him, a celebrated political poem of
that time, entitled The washing of the Blackmoor white. It was
levelled, if I do not mistake, at the aristocracy of the day ; and
if so, the doctor had a sort of hereditary right to that zeal against
the WELL BORN of his own, which has rendered his name a fa-
vourite signature with democratic essayists. But for all this, he
* Put oflhwfarm vm •abseqacDily cooverted into an oocasioDal race-ground.
92 MORALITY OF HCTITIOUS HEROES.
was a friendly man, and no foe to good company ; and as to po-
litical propensities, they seem in some men to be inherent in-
stincts, wholly independent of the reasoning faculty, and no more
to be resisted than a constitutional tendency to be fat or lean : A
sort of restless spirits these, prone to act, to confederate and in-
trigue ; and who, though not absolutely bad at heart, have yet a
lamentable itch for mischief. If there are such men, my quondam
friend was one of them.
The old and the austere may declaim as they will against the
follies and vices of youth, the natural propensities will still pre-
vail ; and for one student of law that is restrained by the solid
eloquence of Professor Blackstone from " whiling away the awk-
ward interval from childhood to twenty-one," two or three per-
haps are lead astray by the seducmg rake of Doctor Hoadley.
Ranger, returning to the temple in a disordered dress, after a
night of riot and debauchery, has unfortunately, more allurements
for a young man of metal, and still more unfortunately for the
generality of young ladies, to whom it is his first desire to be
agreeable, than the sober, orderly student, pale with the incipient
lucubrations of twenty years, I will not undertake to say, that
authors are right in exhibiting such characters as a Dorimant, a
Jones, a Pickle, a Ranger, or a Charles Surface, but in so doing
they draw from nature, and address themselves to the taste of
their readers. Has ever novel or comedy been popular, whose
hero is a man of strict morality and virtue? The Grandison of
Richardson, the Bevil of Steel, and Henry of Cumberland, are
but insipid characters in the eyes of those who are customers for
the productions of the novelist and dramatist. Happy indeed,
are they, who, without being lost to the feelings of youth, can yet
indulge them wnth discretion and moderation ; and who do not
forget, that although the fashionable gaieties may for a time re-
commend them to the thoughtless of both sexes, it is application
to business that must provide the means of ease, contentment and
respectability in life. Such was not my case. I wanted strength
of mind for the judgment of Hercules, and was for seizing the
present moment with Horace. I might not live to be old, and if
I did, what were its dull satisfactions m comparison of the vivid,
enthusiastic enjoyments of youth! In this temper, I plunged deep
DISSIPATION. 93
into dissipation, with the exception of gaming, having never found
much attraction in the fortuitous evolutions of a shu£9ed pack of
cards, or a shaken dice hox. But the pleasures of the table, the
independence of tavern reveliy, and its hig^-minded contempt of
the plodding and industrious, were irresistibly ^scinating to me.
Though without the slightest addiction to liquor, nothing was
more delightful to me than to find myself a member of a large
botde association sat in for serious drinking; the table officers
appointed, the demi-johns filled, the botties arranged, with the
other necessary dispositions for such engagements ; and I put no
inconsiderable value upon myself for my supposed, "potency in
potting," or, in modem phrase, my being able to carry ofi" a re-
spectable quantity of wine. Although a grievous headach was
the usual penalty of my debauch, the admonition vanished with
the indisposition, while a play or some other firivolous reading,
beguiled the hours of penance. I blush to think of the many
excesses I was guilty of while involved in this vortex of intemper-
ance. Wine rarely deprived me of my feet, but it sometimes
inflamed me to madness ; and, in the true spirit of chivalry, the
more extravagant an enterprize the greater was the temptation to
achieve it. Every occupation requires its peculiar talents, and
where mischief is the object, the spirit of noble daring is certainly
an accomplishment. Hence, my energy on these occasions was
duly appreciated by my companions. As to those convivial quali-
fications, which are wont to set the table in a roar^ I had never
any pretentions to them, though few enjoyed them with more
relish. But these talents are often fatal to the possessor and they
hastened, if they did not induce, the catastrophe of poor Kinners-
ley, a son of the already mentioned teacher at the academy. As
he was several years older than myself, he belonged to an elder
class in the school of riot; yet I have sometimes fallen in with
him. He had not indeed the gibes and flashes of merriment,
which are attributed to the jester of Horwendillus^s court; but of
all men I have seen, he had the happiest knack of being gross
without being disgusting, and consequently, of entertaining a
company sunk below the point of attic refinement. Modest by
nature, and unobtrusive, probably from a conviction that he thereby
gave zest to his talents, he always sufiered himself to be called
94 bichardson's novels.
upon for his song, which he then generally accompanied with his
violin, to the exquisite delight of his hearers. He possessed
humour without grimace or buffoonery ; and in the character of
the drunken man, which he put on in some of his songs, and
which may be endured as an imitation, he was pronounced by
Hallam to be unequalled. But unfortunately, the character be-
came at length too much a real one ; and it is to be lamented,
that one whose exterior indicated a most ingenious disposition,
should prematurely close his career by habitual intemperance.
The study of the law, as may be supposed, went on heavily
during this round of dissipation. I occasionally looked into
Blackstone, but carefully kept aloof from the courts, where my
attendance as a future candidate for the bar, was not to be dis-
pensed with. Light reading was the day's amusement ; and, as
already said, it chiefly consisted of poetry and plays. The novels
of Fieldmg and SmoUet I had read ; but as for those of Richard-
son, I had some how taken up the idea, that they were formal
stuff, consisting chiefly of the dull ceremonials relating to court-
ship and marriage, wdth w^hich, superannuated aunts and grand-
mothers torment the young misses subjected to their control. But
taking up one evening the last volume of Clarissa, I accidentally
opened it at a letter relating to the duel between Lovelace and
Morden. This arrested my attention, and I soon found that the
concerns of men, not less than those of the other sex, were both
understood and spiritedly represented by the author. I immedi-
ately procured the work, and read it with more interest than any
tale had ever excited in me before. The cruel, unmerited mis-
fortunes of Clarissa, often steeped me in tears: yet the unrelenting
villany of her betrayer, was so relieved by great qualities, so en-
tirely was he the gentleman when he chose to put it on, that the
feeling of destestation was intermingled with admiration and re-
spect ; and had figure, rank, fortune, borne me out in the re-
semblance, his, of all the characters I had met with, would in the
vanity of my heart, have most prompted me to an imitation ;
though abhorring as much as any one his vile plotting and obdu-
racy. Like the young man mentioned in the letters of Lord
Chesterfield, I almost aspired to the catastrophe, as well as the
accomplishments of this libertine destroyed. Nor was I singular
MORAL EFFECTS OF NOVELS. 95
in this ambition : Lovelace has formed libertines, as MacHeath
has formed highwaymen. A young American, when at the
temple, between forty and fifly years ago, played the part of the
former with too fatal success, of which, I have been told, he pre-
served, and sometimes showed the story, written by himself: and
that this character was the model which the young Lord Lyttleton
prescribed to himself, appears to me evident from the cast of
some of his letters. Rowers Lothario, which Doctor Johnson
tells us is the outline of Lovelace, is ever more favoured by an
audience than the virtuous and injured Altamont whom, even the
circumspect Mr. Cumberland brands with the epithet of toittol:
And is there a young and ^ddy female heart, that does not beat
in unison with Calista's when she exclaims :
** I swear I could not see the dear betrayer
Kneel at my feet, and sigh to be forgiven,
Bat my relenting heart would pardon all,
And quite ibrget 'twas he that had undone me.**
Richardson, it is true, could not have made his story either
natural or interesting without ascribing great qualities to Lovelace.
So refined and all accomplished a woman as Clarissa, was not to
be taken with an ordinary man ; yet what shall we say of the in-
struction intended to be conveyed by the exhibition of such a
character ! Villain as he is, I very much fear, that to the youth
of both sexes, he is, upon the whole, more admired than detested.
The probability therefore is, that after all our attempts at advice
and reformation, the world will proceed according to its original
impulse, and that each season of life will retain the propensities
adapted to its destination.
He who presumes to face the world in the character of his own
biographer, ought to be armed with resolution for the encounter
of great difficulties. To expose his follies, though but his very
early ones, is far firom a pleasant task ; and yet it is in some de-
gree, imposed upon him by the obligation he is under to repre-
sent himself truly. To do it lightly, as I have done, may argue
with some, too much indulgence for vice ; and to treat the mat-
ter as a subject for deep humiliation and contrition, would be to
assume an austerity, I must confess I do not harbour. Still I can
96 JUNIUS.
say with truth, that the delineation is painful ; and that I fed it to
require an apology on the score of decorum.
It was about this time that the letters of Junius appeared, and
from the English gazettes found their way into ours. The cele-
brity of these philippics excited general attention, and, of course,
mine ; but the mere fashion of admiring them, would never have
prevailed over my indifference to their subject matter, to induce
me to read them, had they not possessed a charm unusual in
such performances. I sought them with avidity, and read them
with delight. Some diversity of opinion still exists with respect
to their style. Cumberland gives us to understand, that he sees
little to admire in them ; Johnson, however, seems to have thought
differently; and their continued popularity must be considered as
something more than equivocal evidence of their merit* Mr.
Heron conceives their author, whoever he was, to have formed
his style in a great measure, on Chillingworth, Swift, Bolingbroke
and Shebbeare. I am unacquainted with the writings of Chil-
lingworth, nor do I discern in Junius any great likeness to Swift ;
but there is certainly a striking resemblance in his manner to The
dedication to a noble lord, prefixed to the remarks on the History
of England by Bolingbroke, and also to Angeloni^s Letters by
Doctor Shebbeare, which, when I read them many years ago, ap-
peared to me to be written with uncommon spirit, elegance and
force. But if Junius formed his style upon diese distinguished
writers, he sometimes drew his observations from those who are
nearly obsolete. In his fifteenth letter, which is addressed to the
Duke of Grafton, there is an allusion to a sentiment in Bacon^s
Mvancement of Learning j of which Mr. Heron does not seem
to have been aware. " Yet, for the benefit of die succeeding age,"
says Junius in his concluding sentence, ^^ I could wish diat your
retreat might be deferred until your morals shall happily be ripened
to that maturity of corruption, at which the worst examples cease
to be contagious." Bacon has it, that '^ men overspread with
vice, do not so much corrupt public manners, as those that are
* Their ** merit** it were folly to denj. This if great, beyond dispute; but
certaiuly much of their long continued popularity must be attributed to the still
unrefesled mystery of their authorship^— Ed.
juinus. 97
half evil, and in part only." Putredo serpens magis contagiosa
est quam matura. I think in some of the early editions of this letter,
the words "as philosophers tell us," were inserted between the
words " which " and " the," reading thus — " at which, as phi-
losophers tell us, the worst examples cease to be contagious."
Were it warrantable to infer an imitation from a similitude in a
single point, Mr. Heron might go back to the Latin classics, and
add the names of Horace, Juvenal and Petronius to those of the
English writers, whom Junius is supposed to have studied and to
have had in his eye. That abrupt and indignant use of the im*
perative mood, so frequent in him, is also to be met with in each
of these Latin authors. " Content yourself, my lord, with the
many advantages," &c.— "Avail yourself of all the unforgiving
piety," &c. — " Return, my lord, before it be too late," &c. —
"Take back your mistress" — "Indulge the people. Attend
New Market," &c. — "Now let him go back to his cloister," &c.
Thus Horace — / nunc, argentum et marmor vetusy &c. — / nwnc et
versus tecum medUare canoros ; and Juvenal, speaking of Han-
nibal, I demenSj et sctvos curre per Alpes; — and in the eloquent
reflections over the body of Lycas in Petronius, the speaker ex-
claims, " Ite nunc mortates, et magni cogitaiionibus pectora impkte.
Ite cauti, et opes Jraudibus capias per milk annos, disponite,^^ But
whether Junius had models or not, he probably surpassed all who
went before him in the graces of diction. He appears to have
imparted an unknown music to English prose, and to have given
it a fascination, in no wise inferior to the language of Rousseau.
The beginning of his sentences are no less harmonious than his
cadences at their close ; nor, to my ear, can any lines in poetry,
taking the preceding passage along with them, flow with more
sweetness and ease, than do the following, in one of the letters to
the Dulce of Grafton. "You had already tak^n your degrees
with credit in those schools, in which the English nobility are
formed to virtue," &c., as do also the four concluding periods of
the letter containing the remarked sentiment from Lord Bacon.
I am aware it may be thought, that too much stress is here laid
on mere sound ; but if we analyze the sources from which our
relish of good composition is derived, we shall be compelled to
acknowledge the great importance of the ear in the discernment
9
9b MB. DUCHE.
of literary excellence. Cicero, as we are told by Lord Karnes, I
think, has even employed redundant words for the improvement
of his harmony; and Rousseau informs us, that he has .spent
whole nights in constructing and rounding a period ; hence may
be uiferred the importance these great writers attached to this part
of their art.
As it was highly fashionable at this time to speak of Junius, he
is descanted upon in the letters of Tamoc Caspipina, which came
out in Philadelphia in the year 1771. In these, he is prettily de-
nominated The knight of the polished armour^ a fancy, with which
the writer seems not a little pleased, since he has taken care that
the idea shall not be lost for want of repeating.* These letters
proceeded from the pen of the Rev. Mr. Duche, a very popular
preacher of the Episcopal denomination. He had a fine voice
and graceful delivery, but was never rated high in point of ability.
His sermons were deemed flowery and flimsy, like the letters of
Caspipina.
Mr. Duche was a whig before, and, I believe, after the Decla-
ration of Independence ; but being in Philadelphia when the
British army took possession of it, and thinking, probably, that
his country was in a fair way of being subdued, he changed sides,
and wrote a very arrogant, ill-judged letter to General Washing-
ton, in which he advises him to renounce a cause which had very
much degenerated, and to ^^ negotiate for America at the head of
his army." Mr. Duche was weak and vain, yet probably not a
bad man : His habits, at least, were pious ; and, with the ex-
ception of this political tergiversation, his conduct exemplary.
His whimsical signature of Tamoc Caspipina, is an acrostic on
his designation, as, The Assistant Minister Of Christ's Church
And St. Peters, In Philadelphia, In North America.!
* " I find C — grown more and more diae«tisfied with Juinue. He entreated
Sir William Draper, who was at New York in October last, once more to enter
the litta with this Knight of the polithed armour. Sir William, however, very
politely replied, that he had engagements on his hands at present of a more
agreeable nature. Your Lordship has doubtless seen Lady Draper before this
time, so that you may guess what theie engagements were.**— Ca«ptptnii*« Lett,
to Rt» Bon, V\$count P., 4a July, 1771.— £d.
f A gentleman well acquainted with Mr. Dochd in England, after the trans-
actions alluded to, conceiving that his conduct was mistaken here, and particu-
MR. DUCHE. 99
larly u to his bexn^ a Whig after the Declaration of Independence, expressed
his wish that in the event of a second edition of these Memoirs, I would correct
and alter the passage. But though willing to gratify this gentleman, I cannot
do so at the expense of trnth ; and I have no reason to suppose I have misstated
any facL As to my comments, they may not, perhaps, be warranted, but that
most much depend on the political opinions of the time. Such a letter as the
one alluded to might not, under some circumstances, have been arrogant, but
irom my impression of the character of Mr. Duchd, and the part he acted, I am
not induced to alter or suppress the epithet Although pious and exemplary in
his deportment, as I have admitted, he was much of a courtier, and, in my view*
a person of so light a character as to be carried away by the prevailing fashion
of thinking among what are called the better sort, by whom, at this time, the
Whig cause was considered vulgar and rapidly on the decline. If the justness
of the American claims warranted the blood which had already been spilt for
them, the battles of Lexington and Bunker's Hill, with the invasion of Canada
and assault on Quebec, the Declaration of Independence was not a moral but
simply a political question ; and whether the measure was judicious or not, it
could not convert a cause, originally good, into a seditious and criminal rebellion.
For this reason it certainly savoured of arrogance in Mr. Duchd, to say the least
of it, merely for this difference in ppinioq, to reproach his late associates with
fiatster views^ and to advise General Washingtoh to desert and betray them.
See Appendix E, for this celebrated Letter, and others relating to the subject
above referred to by Mr. Graydon. — Eo.
100 AUTHOR REMOTES TO YORK.
CHAPTER IV.
The Author removes to York. — Society there. — A Maryland ParsoD. — Odd cha.
racier. — Judge Stedman. — Mr. James Smith. — Family circle. — Author returns
to Philadelphia. — Prosecutes the study of the Law. — Fencing'w — Mr. Pike. —
City Tavern.— Singular case of mental derangementp— Retrospective reflec.
tions. — Causes of the American War. — State of Parties.— Volunteer Com-
panies.— Political consistency. — ^Preparations for War. — ^Anecdote. — Early
attachment.— Dr. Kearsley. — Mr. Hunt— Major Skene.
My irregular course of life had much impaired my health, for
the re-establishment of which, and to enable me to pursue my
studies without interruption from my free-living companions, my
uncle advised my spending the approachmg summer in Yorktown.
Mr. Samuel Johnson, the Prothonotary of that county, was his
particular friend, a respectable man who had been in the practice
of the law, and had a very good library. Having been apprised
of the project, he kindly offered me the use of his books, as well
as his countenance and assistance in my reading. Accordingly,
I submitted to become an exile from Philadelphia, with nearly
the same objects and feelings of Propertius, when he left Rome
for Athens.
** Magnum iter ad doctas proficisci cogor Athenas—
RomaniB turres, et vos valeatis amici
Qualiscunque mihi, tuque puella vale.**
Not that York*" was an Athens ; but I was sent thither for improve-
* York, the seat of justice for York county, is interesting on account of the
revolutionary associations here adverted to. It is situated on the banks of Co.
dorns creek. It* is a rich and thriving borough, with a spirited atid intelligent
population of over five thousand. Among the public buildings of the place, the
new court-house, finished in 1842, at a cost of about 9150,000, will at once
attract attention. Congress retired to York from Philadelphia, immediately after
YORK. 101
ment, and there were various attractions in the city from which
it was, no doubt, prudent to withdraw me. It was in the spring
of 1773, that I was transferred to this pleasant and flourishing
village, situated about twelve miles beyond the Susquehanna. It
was this circumstance which rendered it an eligible retreat for
Congress in the year 1778, when General Howe was in posses-
sion of the Capitol and eastern parts of Pennsylvania.* I was
the battle of Brandjwine, in September, 1777, and for nioe months occupied the
old coarthoQie, which stood, until 1841, in the centre of the public square. Its
popahtion, at the period of Mr. Graydon's residence, could hardly have ex-
ceeded 1500. In the year 180Q the nnmber of its inhabitants was 9500.-r-
Rail roads afford conTenient and daily access to Philadelphia, a distance of 89
miles— and to Baltimore, distant 56 miles. The society pf York b excellent,
and the citizens of the borough are influential throughout the oounty and state.—
Ed.
* Or rather when the Capitol held poMessioq of Sir William Howe. We lear^
from the** Memoirs** of Lnc, that, ** while Washington was engaged, without
cessation, in perfecting his army in the art of war, and in placing it out of the
reach of that contagions malady so £ital to man. Sir William was indulgingi
with his braTe troops, in all the sweets of lozury and pleasure to be drawn from
the wealthy and populous ci,tj pf {Philadelphia ; nor did he once attpmpt to dis-
turb that repose, now so essential to the American general. Thus passed the
winter ; and the approaching spring brought with it the recall of the commander
of the British army; who was succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton, heretofore his
second.** •
WaAXAix, indeed, says that the ** Howes appear to have beefi either lukewarm,
or remiss, or negligent, or incapable. Lord North's selection of tiiose two com*
manders excited, at the time, just condemnation ; however brave, able, or meri-
torioos, they might individually be esteemed as professional men. Their ardour
in the canse itself was doubted; and still more questionable was their attachment
to the administration. Never, perlHtpe^ in the history of modern war, has an
army, or a fleet, been more profusely supplied with every requisite for brilUan^
and efficient service, than were the troops and ships sent out by Lord Nortli*a
Cabroet in 1776, across the Atlantic. But, the efforts abroad, did not correspond
with the exertions made at home. The energy .and activity of a Wellington,
never animated that torpid mass. Neither vigilance, enterprise, nor co«operation
characterized the campaigns of 1776 and 1777. Dissipation, play, and relaxation
of discipline, found their way into the British camp.'*
Ln, with a just and generous regard for the reputation, even of an enemy,
says, in his Memoirs, in reference to the earlier movements of Sir William in
America, ** it would be absurd to in^pute to him a want of courage, for he emi-
nently possessed that quality. To explain, as some have attempted to do, his
apparent supineness, by supposing him friendly to the Revolution, and, therefore,
di^KMed to conniv« at Its success, would be equally stopid and unjust, for no part
9»
102 YORK — SOCIETY THERE.
well received by Mr. Johnson, but with that formal, theoretical
kind of politeness, which distinguishes the manners of those who
constitute the betiei' sort, in small secluded towns : and if, in these
days, the Prothonotary of a county of German population, was
not confessedly the most considerable personage in it, he must
have been egregiously wanting to himself. This could with no
propriety be imputed to my patron. Although apparently a mild
and modest man, he evidently knew his consequence, and never
lost sight of it, though to say the truth, I received full as much
of his attention as either I desired or had a right to expect : He
repeated the tender of his books and services, complimented me
with a dinner, suggested that business and pleasure could not be
well prosecuted together, and consigned me to my meditations.
I established myself at a boarding-house, at whose table I found
a practising attorney, a student of law, another of physic, and a
young Episcopal clergyman, who had lately arrived from Dublin.
The first was a striking instance of what mere determination and
perseverance will do, even in a learned profession. He was an
Irishman, a man of middle age — 'the extent of whose attainments
was certainly nothing more, than in a coarse, vulgar hand, to
draw a declaration ; and in equally vulgar arithmetic, to sum up
the interest due upon a bond. His figure was as awkward as
can well be imagined, and his elocutien exactly corresponded
with it. From the humble post of under-sheriflT, he had lately
emerged to his present station at the bar, and was already in good
practice. By industry and economy, his acquisitions soon ex-
ceeded his expenses ; and he died not long since, in pretty a£9u-
ent circumstances. Justice, however, requires it should be added,
that his want of brilliant qualities, was compensated by an ade-
quate portion of common sense, by unblemished integrity, and
liberality in his dealings with the poor. Nor should it be forgot-
ten, that after having taken part with his adopted coimtry in the
struggle for her rights, he did not, like too many of his country-
men, by a blind obedience to vindictive passions, much more than
of Sir William^B life » stained with a single departure from the line of honoar.'*
It must be confessed^ however, that at this time Sir William had not become
acquainted with the allurements of Philadelphia society^ where, ^anugasajiea,^^
as facetiously sung by the poet^ he revelled long and luxuriously. — Exk
A MARYLAND PABSON. 103
efiace the merit of his services. — ^The law-student was from
WUmington ; an easy, good-natured young man, whose talents
appeared to be misplaced in their present direction. They were,
probably, better adapted to the army, into which he entered on
the breaking out of the war, and was killed at the battle of Bran-
dywine, holding the rank of a Major in the Pennsylvania line. —
The student of physic, though with some rusticity to rub off, was
yet a pretty good scholar ; nor was he deficient in natural endow-
ments. To these, he added a manly and honourable way of
thinking, which made him respectable in the army, (which he
also afterwards joined,) as well as in the path of civil life, in
which he possesses an honourable station in the western country.
The clergyman was only an occasional lodger, his pastoral
duties often calling him to Maryland and elsewhere, which pro-
duced absences of several weeks at a time. He had probably
the propensities of that species of gownman, which I have heard
Whitfield call a downy doctor ; as, whatever might have been
his deportment on solemn occasions, in his intercourse with me,
he did not seem to be one who considered the enjoyment of the
present sublunary scene, by any means unworthy of regard. One
day, as I was strumming a tune from the Beggar's opera, upon a
fiddle I had purchased, with a tiew of becoming a performer upon
it, he entered my apartment. " What," says he, " you play upon
the violin, and are at the airs of the Beggar's opera !" He imme-
diately began to hum the tune I had before me, from which, turn-
ing over the leaves of the note-book, he passed on to others,
which he sung as he went along, and evinced an acquaintance
with the piece, much too intimate to have been acquired, by any
thing short of an assiduous attendance on the theatre. After
amusing himself and me for some time with his theatrical recol-
lections, " I am," said he, " to give you a sermon next Sunday, and
here it is," pulling from his pocket a manuscript. Perusing the
title page, he read, it was preached at such a time in such a place,
and at another time in such a place, giving me to understand from
the dates, that it was not of his own composition, and that he
made no difficulty of appropriating the productions of others. In
a word, Mr. L— — seemed in all respects to be what was then
called in Pennsylvania a Maryland Parson; that is, one who
104 MR. JAMES SMITH.
could accommodate himself to his company, and pass, from
grave to gay, from lively to severe," as occasion might require.
Among his other accomplishments, he was no incompetent jockey;
at least I have a right to infer so, from the results of an exchange
of horses between us, a short time before my return to the city :
I do not, however, insinuate that he took me in, but merely that
he had the best of the bargain.
Besides my fellow boarders there were several young men in
the town, whose company served to relieve the dreariness of my
solitude ; for such it was, compared with the scene from which I
had removed. These, for the most part are yet living, generally
known and respected. There was also in the place an oddity,
who, though not to be classed with its young men, I sometimes fell
in with. This was Mr. James Smith,* the lawyer, then in con-
siderable practice. He was probably between forty and fifty
years of age, fond of his bottle and young company, and pos-
sessed of an original species of drollery. This, as may perhaps
be said of all persons in this way, consisted more in the manner
than the matter ; for which reason, it is scarcely possible to con-
vey a just notion of it to the reader. In him it much depended
on an uncouthness of gesture, a certain ludicrous cast of counte-
nance, and a drawling mode of utterance, which taken in con-
junction with his eccentric ideas, produced an effect irresistibly
comical ; though on an analysis it would be difficult to decide,
whether the man or the saying most constituted the jest. The
most trivial incident from his mouth was stamped with his origi-
nality, and in relating one evening how he had been disturbed in
his office by a cow, he gave inconceivable zest to his narration,
* Mr. Smith, was a si^er of the DeclaratioQ of Independence. He was a
native of Ireland, whence his fiither emigrated, it is supposed, between 1715 and
1730. James Smith received his education at the Colleg^e of Philadelphia. After
his admission to the bar, he removed to the vicinity of Shippensburgh, and there
established himself as a lawyer and surveyor, but soon atler removed to York,
where he continued to reside, during the remainder of his life. He held high
rank at the bar and, was greatly distinguished for his wit and good humour.
He was a member of several important conventions. In 1775, he was elected to .
Congress, and retained his seat in that body, until November, 1778, when he
resumed his professional business, from which he withdrew in 1800. He died
in 1806.— £o.
JUDGE STEDMAN — ^AKECDOTE. 105
by his manner of telling how she thrust her nose into the door,
and there roared like a JVutnidian lion. Like the picture of Gar*
rick between tragedy and comedy, his phiz exhibited a struggle
between tragedy and farce, in which the latter seemed on the eve
of predominating. With a sufficiency of various reading to fur-
nish him with materials for ridiculous allusions and incongruous
combinations, he was never so successful as when he could find
a learned pedant to play upon : and of all men. Judge Stedman,
when mellow, was best calculated for his butt. The judge was
a Scotchman, a man of reading and erudition, though extremely
magisterial and dogmatical in his cups. This it was which gave
point to the humour of Smith, who, as if desirous of coming in
for his share of the glory, while Stedman was in full display of
his historical knowledge, never failed to set him raving by some
monstrous anachronism, such for instance, as '' don't you remem-
ber, Mr. Stedman, that terrible bloody battle which Alexander
the Great fought with the Russians near the Straits of Babelman-
del?" "What, sir!" said Stedman, repeating with the most
inefiable contempt, " which Alexander the Great fought with the
Russians! Where, mon, did you get your chronology?" "I
think you will find it recorded, Mr. Stedman, in Thucidydes
or Herodotus." On another occasion, being asked for his au-
thority for some enormous assertion, in which both space and
time were fairly annihilated, with unshaken gravity he replied,
"I am pretty sure I have seen an account of it, Mr. Stedman,
in a High Dutch almanac printed at .^/eepo," his drawling way
of pronouncing Aleppo. While every one at table was holding
his sides at the expense of the judge, he, on his part, had no
doubt that Smith was the object of laughter, as he was of his own
unutterable disdain. Thus every thing was as it should be, all
parties were pleased ; the landers were highly tickled, the self-
complacency of the real dupe was flattered, and the sarcastic vein
of the pretended one gratified ; and this, without the smallest
suspicion on the part of Stedman, who, residing in Philadelphia,
was ignorant of Smith's character, and destitute of penetration to
develope it
York, I must say, was somewhat obnoxious to the general
charge of unsociableness, under which Pennsylvania had always
106 FAMILY CIRCLE.
laboured : or if I wrong her, I was not the kind of guest tbat was
calculated to profit of her hospitality. Perhaps I approached her
under unfavourable auspices, those of a young man debauched
by evil communications ; or perhaps there was a want of conge-
niality bet^veen her manners and mine. Be it as it may, there
was but a single house in which I found that sort of reception
which invited me to repeat my visit ; and this was the house of a
Jew. In this, I could conceive myself at home, being always
received with ease, "with cheerfulness and cordiality. Those who
have known York, at the period I am speaking of, cannot fail to
recollect the sprightly and engagmg Mrs. E., the life of all the
gaiety that could be mustered in the village: always in spirits,
full of frolic and glee, and possessing the talent of singing agree-
ably, she was an indispensable ingredient in the little parties of
pleasure which sometimes took place, and usually consisted in
excursions to the Susquehanna, where the company dined, and,
when successful in angling, upon fish of their own catching. It
was upon one of these occasions, the summer before I saw her,
that she had attracted the notice of Mr. John Dickinson, the cele-
brated author of the Farmer^s Letters. He had been lavish in
her praise in the company of a lady of my acquaintance, who
told me of it, and thence inferred, how much I should be pleased
with her when I got to York. I paid little attention to the in-
formation, having no conception that I could take any interest in
the company of a m^ed woman, considerably older than myself
and' the mother of several children. The sequel proved how
much I was mistaken, and how essential to my satisfaction was
female society; the access to a house in which I could domesti-
cate myself, and receive attentions, not the less grateful from ap-
parently being blended with somewhat maternal. The master of
the house, though much less brilliant than the mistress, was always
good-humoured and kind; and as they kept a small store, I re-
paid as well as I could the hospitality of a frequent dish of tea,
by purchasing there what articles I wanted.
After whiling away about six months, the allotted time of my
exile, reading a little law in the morning, and either fowling,
riding or strolling along the banks of the Codorus, a beautiful
stream which passes throu^ the town, in the afternoon, I at
AUTHOR RETURNS TO PHILADELPHIA* 107
length set out on my return to Philadelphia. For the sake of
company and yet more for the satisfaction of seeing the country,
I took a circuitous route, crossing the Susquehanna at M^Call's
ferry, at the Jfarraws. This place is rude and romantic to a
great degree. The water is extremely deep, above
&thoms,* as it is stated in Scull's map, and the current much
obstructed by rocks, which rise above the surface in huge and
diapeless craggs. Leaving the river, we crossed the Octararo,
which discharges itself into it ; and thence, shaping our course
through a pleasant country to Newark and Wilmington, we
reached Philadelphia after a journey of three or four days, in the
latter part of October.
I cannot take my final leave of York before mentioning, that I
visited it again when Congress held their session there, in the
year 1778. Mr. Johnson, who had been a widower, was then
married to a lady from Maryland. The laws having been silenced
by arms, he was no longer Prothonotary ; and what was still
more unfortunate for him, he had no chance of ever becoming so
again, being much disaffected to the American cause. I found
him extremely soured by the state of affairs : He was at no pains
to conceal his disgust at it, and shook his head in fearful antici-
pation of future calamities. Five years had produced a consider-
able change in respect to the inhabitants of the . town. The
young men I had been acquainted with had been generally in
the army, and were consequently dispersed. Tte E 's were
not there ; or at least, I did not see them ; and if my memory
does not mislead me, the family had removed to Baltimore.
Although I had not made myself a lawyer, 1 returned to the
city somewhat improved in health, as well as in my habits of
Kving. My disposition, however, was unaltered. I still affected
the man of pleasure and dissipation ; had a sovereign contempt
for matrimony, and was even puppy enough, with shame I yet
think of it, to ape the style of Lovelace, in some of my epistolary
* From the aecoant of Theodore Borr, who threw Uie immente arch of 360
feet, 4 inches, orer the river at this place, in the winter of 1814-15, the depth of
the water is 150 feet
This nohle bridge was, in part, carried away by the flood of March, 1846—
the greatest known within fifty years.— Ed. |
I
108 PROSECUTES THE STUDY OF THE LAW.
correspondencies. As my uncle 'was still bent on qualifying me
for the practice of my profession, he proposed my pursuing my
studies, for the winter, under the direction of Mr. James Allen.
As this gentleman was without a clerk, my being there was con-
sidered as a matter of mutual convenience. In return for the use
of his books, I did the business of his office, which was not very
burdensome, and left me sufficient time for reading. Mr. Allen,
the second son of old Mr. William Allen,* the chief justice, and
perhaps the richest and most influential person in the proyince,
was a man of wit and pleasantry, who, for the gratification of his
ambition, was determined also to be a man of business, the only
road in Pennsylvania, to honours and distinction. For this pur-
pose, he engaged in the practice of the law, in which, at Ais
time, he was very assiduous and attentive. As he was very
gentlemanly in his manners, good-humoured and afiable, I passed
my time with lum altogether to my mind. His good sense and
good breeding, suggested the true line of behaviour to one be-
yond the age of apprenticeship, and who, though doing the busi-
ness of a clerk, did not perform it for hire. He also took a
friendly interest in my improvement, submitting the cases in
which he was consulted to my previous examination and opinion,
and treating the timidity which many feel on first speaking in
public, as a weakness very easily overcome. In relation to the
* The same gentleman alluded to by Howe in hia ** Aarroiive/* quoted by
Sparks, in the Appendix, to the 4th vol. of the writings of Waahington, as
Mr. William Allen, a gentleman who was supposed to have great family in.
flaenoe in the province of Pennsylvania ; Mr. Chalmers, much respected in the
three lower counties on the Delaware and in Maryland ; and Mr. Clifton, the
Chief of the Roman Catholic persuasion, of whom there was said to be many in
Philadelphia, as well as in the rebel army, serving against their inclinations :
these gentlemen were appointed commandants of corps, to receive and form for
service all the well-affected that could be obtained, (meaning loyalists, of course,)
and what was the success of these efforts 7" — ^To the honour of the American
name, and with native pride — I answer in Howe's own language, — ^* In May,
1778, when I lefl America, Colonel Allen had raised only 153 rank and file;
Colonel Chahners, 336, (a goodly proportion, however, for the three patriotic ooan-
ties on the Delaware !) and Colonel Cliflon, 180 ; which, together with three
troops of Light Dragoons, consisting of 132 troopers, and 174 realtjolunteert iW>m
Jersey, under Colonel Vandyke, amounting in the whole to 974 men, constituted
all the force that coold be collected in Pennsylvania, after the most indefatigable
exertions during eight months.** — Eo.
DE. SKIKNEE. 109
subject, he gave me, I remember, a very laughable account of
his own ccwp cPeisai in conjunction with the facetious Hany
Elwes, at Easton.
To have been regular in the history of my education I should
have mentioned, that I had already acquired sufficient knowledge
of French to be able to read it with tolerable facility. I now
undertook to learn the use of the small sword of a Mr. Pike, who
had lately arrived in Philadelphia, and was much celebrated for
his ability both as a dancing and fencing master. Amusement
and exercise were my inducements to the undertaking, little
thinking that I was acquiring professional skill, and that a sword,
in a year or two, would be a badge of my calling. From what I
have since seen, I do not think that Mr. Pike, although, like
Rousseau's master, sufficiently ,/ier de Part de tuer un hornme^ was
an accomplished swordsman. He nevertheless probably taught
the science very well, and had certainly a knack of close pushing,
which I have never met with in any other; that is, in the exercise
otquarte and tierce j by placing the point of his foil near the guard
of his adversary's, he could disengage and thrust with such quick-
ness, as with certainty to hit the arm of the assailed. I laboured
in vam, for six or eight months to acquire this dexterity: from
contiQued practice, however, the slight of hand came at last,
upon which I valued myself not a little, and was equally valued
by others. There was but one other pupil in the school who had
been equally successful, and this was my particular friend the
reverend Mr. Clay, of New-Castle, who was then a merchant,
and who, in respect of his present clerical function, might say,
non hos quantum munus in ustis. This accomplishment had
nearly brought me, when in the army, into perilous contact with
a Doctor Skinner,^ who had the fame of a duellist, and having
* Alkzandcr StiNNKR.— 'lie is depicted at largev by General denry Lee, iu
bit * Memoirs of the War in the douthern Department of the United States.**
**He was a native of Maryland. He was virtaons and sensible ; fall of original
humour of a peculiar cast ; and eccentric in mind and manners. In person and
in lore of good cheer, as well as in dire objection to the 6eld of battle, he resem-
bled, with wonderful similitude, dhakspeare's Falstaff. Yet Skinner had no
hesitation in fighting duels-, and bad killed his man. When urged by his friends
to explain why he, who would, when called upon by feelings of honour to risk
his life in single combat^ advance to the arena with alacrityi should abhor 86
10
llO BR. SKINNER.
already killed his man. A Mr. Hanson of Maryland, who had
been a scholar of Pike, and knew what I could do, had made a
considerable bet with the doctor, that he would find a person in
the army, who in spite of him, would hit him in thrusting tierce^ or
rather quarte over the arm. He called upon me, when the army
draadfully, the field of battle, — he uniformly, in sabetanoe, aDswered, that he
coDsidered it very arrog'ant in a surgeon (whose province it was to take care of
the sick and wounded) to be aping the demeanour and duty of a commissioned
officer, whose business it was to fight : an arrogance which he cordially con-
temned, and of which he should never be guilty. Moreover, — he would add,^
he was not more disposed to die than other gentlemen ; but that he had an utter
aversion to the noise and turmoil of battle. It stunned and stupified him. How-
ever, when Congress should think proper to honour him with a commission, he
would convince all doubters that he was not afraid to push the bayonet" General
Lee, in describing an action near a stream over which his dragoons could not
pass — being too wide for their horses to leap, and too deep in mud for them to
attempt to ford — it was impossible to pursue the advantage his troops had gal-
lantly gained, and ** having only sabres to oppose to the enemy*s fire, and those
sabres withheld from contact by the interposing chasm, he was forced to draw
off f^om the vain contest, after several of his dragoons had been wounded,
among whom was Dr. Irvin, surgeon of the legion cavalry,'* states, th&t such
was Dr. Skinner's unvarying objection to Irvin's custom of risking his life,
whenever he was with the corps going into action, that, kind and amiable
as he was, he saw with pleasure, that his prediction, oflen communicated to
Irvin to stop his practice, (which, contrasted with his own, Skinner felt as a bitter
reproach) was at length realized, when Irvin was brought in wounded ; and he
would not dress his wound, although from his station he had a right of preference,
until he had attended upon all the privates— reprehending with asperity Irvin's
custom, and sarcastically complimenting him, occasionally, with the honourable
scar he might hereafler show.
Surely he was the Dr. Sitgreaves of Cooper !
When he first appeared in the lower country, he wore a long beard and huge
fur cap, the latter through necessity, the first through some superstitious notion,
the meaning of which it was impossible to penetrate. An officer who really
esteemed him, asking him " why he suffered his beard to grow to such an unusual
length," he tartly replied, ** It is a secret, sir, betwixt my God and myself, that
human impertinence shall never penetrate." On a night alarm at Ninety .Six, as
Colonel Lee was hastening forward to ascertain the cause, he met Skinner in
full retreat, and stopping him, said, ** what is the matter Doctor, whither so fast
— not frightened I hope 7" ** No, Colonel, no," replied Skinner, " not absolutely
frightened, but, I candidly confess, most damnably alarmed."
Being once asked which of the ladies of South Carolina possessed in his eati-
mation, the greatest attractions? he replied, **The widow Izard beyond all com.
parison. I never piss her magnificent sideboard, but the plate seems ready to
tumble into my pocket" — Ed.
MR. BRADFORD— MB. ROBINSON. Ill
lay at Haerlem heights, to know if I would push: With some
reluctance I consented, but before the time appointed arrived,
some movement took place, which separated me from Mr. Skin-
ner, and the question was not decided. The instruction I re-
ceived from Pike, I considerably improved by practice, and began
to grow vain of my skill, until I met with Major Clow (or Clough)
of Colonel Baylor's dragoons, who had been a pupil of Angelo
and others of the best masters in Europe. He soon convinced
me that I had still much room for improvement ; though he was
pleased to assure me, that I was by far the best fencer he had met
with in America, and much superior to Benson, a fencing master
in New York.
During the time of my being with Pike, Mentges, who was
afterwards a Colonel in our service, had opened a fencing school.
Among his scholars were Messrs. Robeson* and Bradford ;t then
* PerhapB the sod of him — mentioned as Robinson, by Watson, whose ortho*
STSphy in names, like the style of his inimitable ** Annals '* is »ui generis !
The gentleman, referred to by Watson, " was Clerk of the Provincial Council,
and owner of the first hired prison. In 1685 he gave offence to the council, and
tfaey resolved *that the words spoken by him, concerning the impeachment against
Judge Moore, was drawn hah nab, which expression of his we do unanimously
declare to be undecent, unallowable, and to be disowned.* ** -Soon after, it was
ftrther resolved, that Patrick Robinson could not be removed from his Clerk's
office until be was legally convicted of the offence. They, however, determine
**that he shall be readily dismissed from any public office of trust in this govern,
ment"— Ed.
f Bradford commenced his professional career at a very early age, and his
iofltructive history is deserving of the attention of those, especially, upon whom
adverse fortune has laid her depressing hand. His circumstances were exceed-
ingly restricted, and he was several years at the Bar with few or no clients; and
w discouraging appeared his prospects, that at one time he seriously contem.
plated the abandonment of his professional hopes, and the adoption of the sea as
his new and perilous home.
Mr. Bradford was buried in the grave-yard of St Mary*s, in the ancient, rural
city of Bu rlingf on, New. Jersey ; and his monument bears the following beautiful
and comprehensive inscription, which supersedes the necessity of farther biogra-
phical details :
**Here lies the remains of William Bradford, Attomey-Greneral of the United
States, under the Presidency of Washihgton ; and previously Attorne3N'6eneral
of Pennsylvania, and a Judge of the Supreme Court of that State. In private
life he had acquired the esteem of all his fcllow-citizens. In professional attain*
meats he was learned as a lawyer, and eloquent as an advocate. In the exeeu.
U2 COL. MENZIES.
students of law, the former already spoken of, and the latter of
whom became a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and
afterwards Attorney-General of the United States. Coming into
the school I was asked to take a foil, and in succession contended
with each of these gentlemen ; but the result was unlucky for
Mentges,* as it too plainly evinced his incapacity for the business
he had undertaken, and of course, soon deprived him of his
pupils.
At the city tavern, which had been recently established, and
was in great vogue, I often spent my evenings. It was at this
time much frequented by Mr. William Hockley, a gentleman of
fortune, who was liable to fits of mental derangement; and while
these prevailed, was a prominent figure at all public places: for
as he was perfectly harmless, it was not thought necessary to re-
strain him fix)iji going abroad. The eflects of this misfortune
lion of his public offices, he was vigilant, dignified and imparUaL Yet, in the
hloom of life ; in the maturity of every faculty that could invigorate or embdltsh
the human mind; in the prosecution of the most important services that acittien
could render to his country ; in the perfect enjoyment of the highest boooars
that public confidence could bestow upon an individual ; blessed in aU the
pleasures which a virtuous reflection could furnish from the past, and aninnated
by all the incitements which an hooouiable ambition could depict in thefbtore —
he ceased to be mortal. A fever, produced by a fatal assidtiity in performing his
official trust at a crisis interesting to the nation, suddenly terminated his paUic
career, extinguished the splendour of his private prosperity, and on the 23d day
of August, 1795, in the 4'Oth year of his age, consigned him to the grave — ^La-
men ted, Honoured and Beloved.** — Edw
* The CouoNKL Mknzies, of Garden ; who relates the following amusing anec-
dote : ** Sometime previous to the evacuation of Charleston, Colonel Menzies, of
the Pennsylvania line, received a letter from a Hessian officer within the garrison,
who had once been a prisoner, and* treated by him with great kindness, express,
ing an earnest desire to show his gratitude, by executing any commission with
which he would please to honour him. Colonel Menzies replied to it, requesting
him to send twelve dozen Cigars ; but, being a German, and little accustomed
to express himself in English, he was not very accurate in his orthography, aad
wrote SixarSk Twelve dozen pairs of Seissors were accordingly sent him, which,
for a time, occasioned much mirth in the camp, at the Coloners expense ; but do
roan knew better how to profit from the mistake. Money was not, at the period,
in circulation ; and by the aid of bis runner, distributing his scissors over the
country, in exchange for poultry, Colonel Menzies lived luxuriously, while the
fare of his brother officers was a scanty pittance of famished bee^ bull-frogs
from ponds, and cray.fish from the neighbouring ditches."— En.
SINGUAR CASE OF MENTAL DEBAK6EMENT. 113
appeal too forcibly to humanity, to be considered as the subject
of merriment, otherwise the flights of this gentleman might, for a.
short time, have been truly amusing. His fancies were the most
Uvely and brilliant that can be imagined. He had full persuasion
that he excelled in every thing that was worthy of attention, though
the turf and the theatre were the chief scenes of his glory. Some-
times he achieved the exploits himself; at others, he only wit-
nessed their performance, and, like Horace's hand ignobUis Argis^,
conceived he had been the hearer of the most wonderful actors.
'^Se credebat miros audii-e trajedos.**
Whatever he chose to do, that he chose to do best : Hallam
was but a fool to him when he chose to be a player ; he had more
than once, when a fencer, disarmed Pike with a pipe shank ; and
had taken, when a sportsman, all the purses at all the race-groundss
between Savannah and New York. His vivid conceptions sup-
plied him with a stud ; and he would run over the names of his
horses and their pedigrees^ descanting, as he went along, on the
respective merits of his riders with astonishing volubility, and
with a gaiety and sprightliness of manner, that even Garrick, if
he could have equaUecf, could not have excelled.: And this rodo-
montade was occasionally accompanied by so peculiarly agreeable
and animated a laugh, as might have served for a model, to a
performer of genteel comedy. Yet, iwtwithstanding these wild
coruscations of genius, Mr. Hockley, when himself, was remark-
ably dull and phlegmatic ; one, who never perhaps had had a foil
m his hand, and who had little or no relish for races or plays.
His case would almost induce a belief, that there was really ''a
pleasure in being mad, which none but madmen know ;" and that
however deplorable the condition of the melancholy or raving
maniac, there is a malady of the mind, which, in its paroxysms,
is nothing more than a delightful illusion, Mentis gratissimus
error.
I suppose the time I have now arrived at, to be the winter of
1T74-5. From this era, although I could not look back upon
my conduct with approbation, I could yet do it without anguish
or remorse. I had spent much time unprofitably, but had been
guilty of no baseness : I had been rather dissolute in my habits
10*
114 KETROSPECTIVE REFLECTIONS.
— too indulgent to gay profligacy, and had even sometimes asso-
ciated with it to the disadvantage of my character, but had hap-
pily preserved myself free from its contagion. I neither liked liquor
nor gaming; I had contracted no debts — used no unwarrantable
means to obtain money or credit ; nor, among my vanities and
follies, had I ever committed an action, which might tend to de-
prive me of that self-respect, which is the best security for a future
course of honourable and moral conduct. I was open, however,
to a galling-, self-reproach, in that at the age of nearly twenty-
three, instead of being in a situation to maintain myself, I was
still dependant upon my mother, not only for necessaries, but my
pocket-expenses, which though not extremely profuse, were less
limited than they ought to have been.*
But a period was now approaching which tended equally to
interrupt the pursuits of pleasure and of business ; and, inasmuch
as it did the latter^ to lessen my chagrin at being disqualified for
engaging in it. Pennsylvania, hitherto so tranquil and so happy,
was in common with her sister provinces, about to experience the
calamities, which sooner or later, seem the inevitable destiny of
every region inhabited by man. Her golden age was at its
dose ; and that iron era which was to sever the ties of friendship
and of blood; to set father against son, and brother against
brother, with many other frightful evils in its train, was about to
supervene. The ministry seemed resolved upon enforcing their
assumed right of taxing the colonies, and there was an equal de-
termination on the part of America, to resist the pretension. The
supremacy of the mother country, it was held, on the one hand,
necessarily involved the right of legislating over, and consequently
of imposing taxes on, every part of her dominions ;t while it was
* Even this reproach I might hare spared myself^ had I reflected that there
was exclusively doe to me from my father's estate aboat 1702. the proceeds
of a prize drawn in the Academy lottery, by a ticket presented to me by my
|rrandfatlier» and for which, he, as trustee for me, took a bond from my father, re-
ceiving the money, dated Sept 14th, 1756, and which money I never dtemanded.
Bat what is this to the world ? Not mnch to be sure. Still it is something to &
proscribed man, interested in mitigating as much as possible his atrocities.
t My doctrine has ever been, that legislation involves in it every powiUa
power and exercise ofcivil government— I<or<2 L^elton'e LetUrB,
The same doctrine is. maintained by General Burgoyne in hi0 Letters to. Gene-
ral U83, and elsewhere^
CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 115
contended on the other, to be a fundamental principle of the con-
stitution, that no money could be drawn from the people without
their consent, signified through the medium of a representation
in parliament ; and that as the colonists had no such representa-
tion, they were not subject to parliamentary taxation. An excep-
tion was, however, made with respect to the regulation of trade,
and a distinction was taken between internal and external taxes ;
the latter of which only, not having revenue for their object, it
was said, could be constitutionally laid. The discussion of the
points in controversy, only served to put the parties farther
asunder. To the Americans, it disclosed the disadvantages of a
dependance on a power so remote as that of Britain, and so op-
pressed by a weight of debt. It was also perceived, that as we
were not, so neither could we be, efficiently represented in her
parliament ; and that, in any shape, therefore, to admit her right
to tax us, would be to throw ourselves entirely on the generosity
of a nation, tempted to large exactions from the consideration
that she would be relieved in proportion to what she could draw
from us,* and prompted to invigorate the arm c^f coercion from
her observation of our rapidly increasing strength, which, if not
speedily repressed and held in subjection, might soon defy con-
trol, f A similar view of the subject, no doubt, led the ministry
* The Americaxi war, said Mr. Windham, he waa aftai<^ had been undertaken
for no better reaaon, than the hope of saving ourselves, by taxing America. —
Speech in I79S.
"Afoyls<,1774."
t ^ There i* a great business in agitation, and has been for some time ; but,
without the thorough-bass of opposition, it makes no echo out of Parliament.
Its Parliamentary name is — Regulations for Boston. Its essence, the ques-
tion of tmsereigniy oner America, Shall I tell you in one word, my opinion 7 If
the B(Mtonians resist, the dispute will possibly be determined in favour of the
crown by force. If they temporize or submit, waiting for a more favourable
ffloment, and preparing for it, the wound, skinned over, will break out hereafter
with more violence, not that I lay any stress on my conjectures. People collect
their guesses from what they have read, heard, or seen, but times are unlike ;
and a single man can sometimes give a new colour to an age.*'
" November ^4th 1774."
** Don't tell me I am grown old and peevish and supercilious — name the ge-
niiuses of 1774, and I submit The next Augustan age will dawn on the other
side of the Atlantic There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at fioston, a Xeno.
116 CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.
to appreciate the importance of retaining in due dependance so
fruitful a field of exaction ; and to conceive, that if the application
of force should be necessaiy for the purpose, the sooner it should
be applied the better. All things considered, they had certainly
some grounds to calculate upon success: And as to the proposal,
qf raising by our own legislatures, the supplies that might be
asked for, besides, that an acquiescence in it, would very strongly
resemble a renunciation of sovereignty, it is scarcely in the nature
of power to condescend to petition for that which it supposes
itself able to compel ; and pride is ever more gratified in the ex-
ercise of generosity, than in the performance of justice. The
ministry had the support of a great majority of the nation at
home. Interest, which made resistance popular with us, made
compulsory measures popular with them. It was this collision,
that at this time, severed the two countries ; though nature, which
had placed the Atlantic ocean between them^ had thereby inter-
posed an insurmountable bar to a much longer colonial connexion
on constitutional principles.* In another view, when the nur-
turing season is past, the young of all kinds are left to act for
themselves. Even man, by a law of his own, pursuing that of
nature, has appomted a time for the enfiranchisement of youth ;
and America had perhaps completed her years of minority. But
waving analogies, that may be fitter for illustrations than argu-
ments, the merits of the question, were, I tlunk, on the side of the
phon at New York, and, in time« a Virgil at Mexico^ and a Newton at Pern.
At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a descrip-
tion of the rains of St Panl's, fike the editions of Balbcc and Palmyra; but am
I not prophesymg, contrary to my consummate prodence, and casting horo-
scopes of empire Kke Roassean? Yes ; well^ I will go and dteam of mj visions.*'
— Walpole's Letters to Horace Mann.— Ed.
* Dr. Franklhi, writing in his journal on the 14th December, 1774, says, ^ In
the coarse of conversation, more than sixteen years ago, long before any dispute
with America, the present Lord Ciimden, then Mr. Pratt, said to him : *For all
what you Americans say of your loyalty, and all that, I know you will one day
throw off your dependence on this country ; and, notwithstanding your boasted
affection for it, you will set up for independence.' " Dr. Franklin said that he
answered him, "^ No such idea was ever entertained by the Americans, nor will
any such ever enter their heads, unless you grossly abuse them." ** Very true,"
replied Mr. Pratt, that is one of the main causes I see will happen,, and will
produce the event." — En.
MB. JOSEPH GALLOWAY. 117
colonies ; and the inference, that the authority contended for by
Britain, would ultimately reduce them to vassalage, was by no
means chimerical. This being generally perceived and assented
to, a great proportion, and perhaps a great majority of the most
wealthy and respectable in each of the provinces, was arrayed in
opposition to the ministerial claim. I speak of the early stages of
the contest. In Pennsylvania, this was certainly the case, thou^
as to the extent to which the opposition should be carried, there
was doubtless a great diversity of opinion ; many sincere whigs
considering a separation from the mother country as the greatest
evil that could befal us. The merchants were on the whig side,
with few exceptions ; and the lawyers, who, from the bent of their
studies, as well as their habit of speaking in public, were best
qualified to take a lead in the various assemblies that became ne-
cessary, were littie less unanimous in the same cause.
A few, indeed, of the oldest and most conspicuous practitioners
in PhDadelphia were either disafiected or lukewarm. Among
these^ Mr. Joseph Galloway,* though a member of the first Con-
gress, was known to be a disapprover of the measures pursuing.
By obtaining a seat in Congress, therefore, his design undoubtedly
was, to impede, if he could not divert the current of affairs ; but
finding no matter to work upon, and taking the hint, probably,
from a halter coiled up in a box, that was said to be sent to him,
he gave up the contest, and went off to the invading army, as
soon as an opportunity offered. From Mr. Chew,t Mr. Tilghman,:}:
* See Appendix F, for a bto^aphical notice of Mr. Galloway.— Ed.
t Ma. Chew was prominent in early limes. In 1 772 he was preferred to the
Bench. Perhaps no one exceeded him in an accurate knowledge of Common law>
or in the sound exposition of Statutes ; his solid judgment, tenacious memory, and
persevering industry, rendered him a safe and steady guide. At the bar his
language was pertinent and correct, but seldom characterized by effusions of elo-
quence ; his arguments were close, and frequenUy methodized on the strict rules
of logic ; his object always seemed to be to produce conviction, not to obtain ap.
plause.*^ — Wataon^s AnnaU,
The name will be remembered from its association with " Chew*s House,** and
the Battle of Germantown. He was the owner of the property, which still (1846)
remains in the family. — Ed.
t Mr. I. Tilghman, father of Mr. Edward Tilghman and of Mr. William
Tilghmao, late Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. — Ed.
118 STATE OF PARTIES.
and Mr. Shippen,* no activity was expected or claimed, as
they were what was called Proprietary men, and in the enjoy-
ment, under that interest, of offices of trust and importance.
Their favourable disposition to the American cause, was, however
inferred, from the sons of the first two having joined the military
associations. Mr. John Ross, who loved ease and Madeira, much
better than liberty and strife, declared for neutrality, saying, that
let who would he king, he well knew that he should he subject. An
observation, which, judging only from events, may be thought by
some, to contain as much intrinsic wisdom as the whole of the
Farmer^s Letters, with all the legal, political, and constitutional
knowledge they display. But the abuse of liberty, ought not to
induce apathy to. oppression, however it may dispose us to delibe-
rate before we plunge into a new order of things. Mr. James Al-
len was also suspected of having no very cordial affection for the
cause, although he shouldered a musket m the ranks of the mi-
litia. What chiefly led to the suspicion, was, that he had laboured
to organize a committee of privates, which, however accordant
such a measure might be, with the republican spirit, that was
coming in fashion, it was, to say the least of it, a veiy question-
able experiment on military subordination and discipline. As
business had, for some time, been entirely laid aside, I no longer
attended his office, and consequently had less opportunity, of
knowing his real sentiments. His brother, Mr. Andrew Allen, the
attorney-general, was more ardent, and considered also to be more
smcere. He had attached himself to the corps of city Cavalry,
commanded by Mr. Markoe ; but not long after, recognising his
error, he withdrew, giving out that he would hang up his cap and
regimentals as monuments of his folly, and upon the declaration
of independence, he sought an asylum with General Howe.
These were the principal gentlemen of standing in the profession
who may be considered as exceptions to the temper of the Penn-
sylvania bar.
On the whig side of the question, Mr. John Dickinson, always
in the political antipodes of Mr. Galloway, was, at this time,
* Edward Shippen, Chief Jaatice of Peongjlvania, born 1729, died April 15,
1806. He was a cousin of Dr. Wm. Shippen of the University, and father of Mrs.
General Arnold. — En.
JOHN DICKINSON. GENERAL REED. 119
most prominent and distinguished. By his Farmer's Letters, he
had acquired a high reputation, both /or patriotism and ability ;
though he ^as, if I mistake not, among the disapprovers of inde-
pendence, and thence fell under a doud, which obscured him all
the war, and even involved him in the suspicion of disaffection
and toryism.* Next in conspicuousness to Mr. Dickinson,
among the members of the city bar, were Mr. Reedf and Mr.
* For a Sketch of the Life and Character of Mr. DickinioD, aee Appendix 6. —
£a
f Mr. Reed was the son of Mr. Andrew Reed, fi^om Ireland, ** engaged in trade
in the town of Trenton," and was bom there in 1742.
In 1775, at the age of 33 years, he was elected President of the Provincial
CooTention. In the same year he was appointed Military Secretary to Washing-
TOR, who appeara to have entertained a high opinion of his talents and patriotism.
Id Jaoe, 1776, he was, at the suggestion of Washington, appointed by Congress
Adjotaot-General of the Continental Army. The Appendix to the fourth volume
of Sparks* "Life and Writings of Washington" contains a correspondence be.
tweon General Washington and Mr. Reed, upon the subject of a misunderstand,
ing between them, to which the reader, who may feel an interest in the matter, is
itierred.
On the 12th of May, 1777, Reed was elected a brigadier by Congress, and in
September of the same year, he was elected to the Continental Congress. ** Sudi,
however, was the active interest which he took, in the operations of the campaign
10 Pennsylvania, that he did not join the delegation in Congress at all under this
eiectioo. Bat just at the close of the campaign, a new election took place on the
10th of December when he was again chosen, Franklin and Robert Morris being
in the aame delegation.*' The attempt to bribe General Reed by Governor John,
itene, one of the British Commissioners, who arrived in 1778, is detailed at length
in the modest and appropriate **Life of Joseph Reed ** by his grandson Mr. Henry
Reed, of Philadelphia. Associated as Commissioners with Mr. Johnstone, were
the Earl of Carlisle, and Mr. William Eden, afterwards Lord Aukland. They
left England in April, 1778. Walpole alludes to them on the 5th of March, in his
letter to Horace Mann. " You will have been impatient for the consequences of
Lord North's Conciliatory Plan. The substantial consequences cannot, you are sen-
sible, be known till the Commissioners arrive in America and return the answer
of the Congress." It is to the son of the Earl of Carlisle, who fell at Waterloo, that
Byron beautifully and penitentially alludes in the third Canto of Childe Harold :
** Their praise is hymn'd by loflier harps than mine ;
Yet one I would select from that proud throng.
Partly because they blend me with his line.
And partly that I did his Sire 8ome wrongj'^
In October 1778, Walpole again writes, "Governor Johnstone is returned, the
other two Commissioners remain to make peace, to which we are told the Ameri.
120 MR. m'eean.
M 'Kean,* each of whom was distinguished both during and after
the revolution. The .yonng gentlemen of the profession with a
I are disposed ; a proof of which ie our tendinijr another army thither.** The
reaaon for Johnstone's retom is thus accounted for by the Editor of WalpoIe*8
Letters : ** Governor Johnstone bad been charged by the Congress with an attempt
to oorrnpt and bribe General Reed with the sam of ten thoosand pounds and a
public situation in the Colonies ; to which offer the General is said to hawe
answered, * that he was not worth purchasing, but, such as he was, the King of
England was not rich enough to do iU' In consequence of this, the Coogieas in.
terdicted all intercourse and correspondence with the Commiwioners while
Governor Johnstone continued one of them. He therefore resigned and returned
to England.*'
In a letter to George Selwyn^ of the 6th of November, Mr. Charles Townshend
says, "• Grovemor Johnstone is as mad as a bull. He foams at the moath, and
swears that he will impeach Lord Howe and Sir William, for not reducing
America. Wedderbum says, he talks in a very manly style ; and he is much
caressed by ministers whom he has abused in so coarse a style to the Americans :
You may be sure he caresses them in his turn. He puts me in mind of a cfamrac
ter of King James I., given by an old Scotch Lord at his accession : * Ken yoo
an ape! If I*se hold him he will bite you; if you hold him, he will bite
me.* General Reed, by the unanimous vote of both branches of the state govern-
ment was, in 1778, elected ** President ** of Pennsylvania. He was subsequently
rejected to Congress, and died, at Philadelphia, in March 1785, in his forty-thinl
year.
His career, — his public career especially, was short but truly brilliant. Like
his illustrious friend, William Bradford, of whom mention has already been made,
and whose pre-eminent abilities he was among the first to discover and appreciate,
he lived at a stirring period, fruitful in great events, many of which were crowded
into the brief time aUotted to him here, and with which his name is honourably
and permanently associated. — En.
* Thomas McKkan — afterwards Chief Justice and also Governor of PennsyU
vania — an able and ardent politician of the ultra democratic school, although his
training and associations in early life were of a character to in6uence to the
adoption of an opposite political creed. He was a lealous revolutionary patriot
and, in his earlier political career especially, is entitled to warm commendation.
He was bom at Chester, in Pennsylvania, in 1734, and commenced the practice
of his prpfossion at the age of twenty-one. In October, 17G2, he was elected a
member of the Assembly for the county of New Castle, and was annually
returned for seventeen successive years, although he resided in Philadelphia for
the last six years of that period. He was a delegate to the General Congress,
which met at New York in 1765. In the same year he was appointed Jndgv of
the Court of Common Pleas and of the Orphan's Court for the county of New
Castle. In November term, 1765, and February term, 1766, be was one of the
bench that ordered the officers of the court to proceed in their duties, a» usual,
on unstamped paper. In 1771 he was appointed Collector of the port of New
Castle. He was appointed a delegate to the General Congress of 1774, from the
MB. M^K£AN. 12l
few exceptions, were also in whig politics ; and accordingly fell
into some of the associations whidi were forming for the purpose
of acquiring a knowledge of tactics. In the country the same
spirit was prevalent at tiie bar, the members of which, some of
whom were of the first eminence, distinguished themselves by
their zeal in opposition to the ministerial claims; and as these
lower oocmties of Delaware^ and hie continned to werre in that body until 1783»
He waj President of Congress in 1781, and, although a member of that bodj, he
held and executed the office of Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, from the year 1777.
He was exceedingly active In promoting the Declaration of Independence, which
he signed, and soon after that event marched with a battalion, of which he was
Colonel, into New Jersey^ to support General Washington, and acquitted himself
gallantly in several dangerous skirntishes, while he remained with the army.
Upon his return to Delaware^ he drew up, in a single night, a Constitution for
that State, which, on the following day, was unanimously adopted by Uie As-
•embly. In 1777 he acted as ''President^* of the sUte of Delaware. **At that period,'*
sshe relates, ** be was hunted like a fox by the enemy ; and was compelled to remove
his &mily five times in the course of a few months, and at length placed theni
in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna." While here he was
treated with great deference by the country people, and the straggling tndiansi
who had their village in that vicinity. The Chief Justice, when on the Bench|
wore an immense cocked-bat, and was dressed in a scarlet gown. He discharged
the office of Chief Justice for twenty -two years, and ** gave striking proofs of
ability, impartiality and courage.*'
"He was a member of the Convention of Pennsylvania that ratified the Con>>
stitution of the United States, and made a masterly speech in its support" He
was also a member of the Convention that formed the first Constitution of Penn-
•ylvania ; a body composed of some of the purest and ablest men of any age o^
nation, but whose wise and patriotic labours became unpalatable to the **/»ras>
gre$9ive demoeraey^^ of recent and more enlightened times ; and Pennsylvaniani
have now the privilege and the honour of living under a Constitution, the work
of men, previously ** unknown to fame^" and Whose magnificent labours will, it is
believed, prove satisfactory to the ^ democracy,'* however " progressive," for scve^
ral years to come !
In 1779, Judge McKean was elected Grovernor of Pennsylvania, add held the
office during the constitutional period of nine years, having been twice re-elected;
In 1803 it was proposed to him to become a candidate for the Vice-Presidency-^
a poet of honour <Aefi,as it had previously) been filled by men who had earned the
respect of their country — but he declined^ ^ In 1 808 he retired from public life, in
which he had been engaged for fifly years, and died in June, 1817, in his 84th
year. He was one of the fathers of the Republic, and in this quality will be
honoured, aside front the resentments which his proceedings as a party-polUieian
engendered."— Ej5.
11
122 VOLUNTEER COBfPANIES.
very forcibly appealed to the pocket, the great body of Grerman
farmers, extremely tenacious of property, were readily gained.
Exceptions however were to be found: The Menonists and some
other sects were generally disaffected. As to the genuine sons of
Hibernia, it was enough for them to know that England was the
antagonist. Stimulants here, were wholly superfluous ; and the
sequel has constantly shown, that in a contest with Englishmen,
Irishmen, like the mettlesome coursers of Phaeton, only require
reining in. Labor est inhibere volentes. The spirit of liberty
and resistance being so generally diffused, it seems scarcely ne-
cessary to mention, that it drew into its vortex the mechanical
interest, as well as that numerous portion of the community in
republics, styled The People; in monarchies. The Populace; or
still more irreverently. The Rabbk or Canaille. But notwith-
standing this almost unanimous agreement in favour of liberty,
neither were all disposed to go the same lengths for it, nor were
they perfectly in unison in the idea annexed to it. Wilkes had
just rendered the term popular in America; and, though perhaps
there is not any one in our language more indefinite, yet the sense
in which it was doubtless most generally received, was that which
brings it nearest to licentiousness and anarchy, since hallowed by
the phrases of EqaalUy^ and the Rights of Man.
The Quakers, as a society, were charged with disaffection, and
probably with truth. They were desirous, however, of screening
themselves under their non-resisting principles and known aver-
sion to war; and in this, although they might not have been sin-
cere, they at least were consistent. But notwithstanding their
endeavour to keep aloof from the contest, a good number of their
young men swerved from their tenets; and affecting cockades and
uniforms, openly avowed themselves fighting men. They went
so far as to form a company of light infantry, under the command
of Mr. Copperthwaite,* which was called The Quaker Blues^ and
instituted in a spirit of competition with The Greens^ or, as they
were sneeringly styled. The silk stocking company, commanded by
* JosKPfl CowpERTHWAiT. — He wa8 Sheriff of Philadelphia County, and sub*
AcquenUy a Justice of the Peace. A gentleman of intelligence and inflaeDce,— »
Ed»
VOLUNTEER COMPANIES. 123
Mr. John Cadwalader,* and which having early associated, had
already acquired celebrity. This nickname evinced, that the
canker worm, jealousy, already tamted the infantile purity of our
patriotism. The command of this company, consisting of the
flower of the city, was too fipe a feather in the cap of its leader to
be passed by unenvied : it was, therefore, branded as an aristo-
cratic assemblage, and Mr. (since general) Mifflin, had the credit
of inventing the invidious appellation. To this association I be-
longed. There were about seventy of us. We met morning and
evening, and from the earnest and even enthusiastic devotion of
most of us to learn the duty of soldiers, the company, in the
course of a summer's training, became a truly respectable militia
corps. When it had attained some adroitness in the exercises,
we met but once a day. This was in the afternoon, and the place
of rendezvous the house of the captain, .where capacious demi-
johns of Madeira, were constantly set out in the yard where we
formed, for our refreshment before marching out to exercise. The
ample fortune of Mr. Cadwalader had enabled him to fill his eel-,
lars with the choicest liquors ; and it must be admitted, that he
dealt them out with the most gentlemanly liberality. He probably
meant it, in part, as an indemnification for our voluntary submis-
sion while under arms, to all the essential points, as well as the
little etiquette of subordination, required of privates under the
most regular discipline.
On taking a retrospect of the company, and looking round for
* John Cadwalader was, subsequently to this period, appointed Ck>lonel of one
of the Ciij Battalions, from which rank he rose to that of Brigadier-General, and
was entrusted with the command of the Pennsylvania troops in the Winter cam.
paign of '76 and *77. He acted in this command, and as a volunteer, in the
Battles of Princeton, Brandy wine, Germantown, Monmouth, and on other occa.
sioDs, and received the thanks of Wasbington, whose confidence and esteem he
always possessed. He was appointed to command one of the divisions into which
the army was separated when Washington determined to attack the enemy at
Trenton ; but in consequence of the ice in the river, neither he nor General
Irvine, the commander of another division, could cross the river in time. But,
the day after Washington's return, he effected the passage, supposing him still
on the Jersey side, and pursued the vanquished enemy to Burlington. In 1778,
he was appointed by Congress, General of Cavalry — an appointment which he
declined on the score of being more useful in the station which he occupied. He
died Feb. 10, 1786, in the 44th year of his Kge.^Eney. Amer. — Eo,
124 POLITICAL COKSISTENCT.
those who remain of it, I see a few who are yet aHve and in re-
spectable situations. Much the greater number, however, have
resigned their places to that posterity, for whose interests it was
the fashion of seventy-^ to be extremely concerned. It is to be
hoped, therefore, that posterity wiU continue to pay the easy re-
compenpe of an annual toast to the mei;nory of those departed
friends, who i\q longer stand in their way. But I am chiefly
struck with ^e strong tendency to evaporation, which inheres in
a fiery zeal ; as well as with the utter insignificance of that duU
quality, consistency, on the versatile scale of republican virtue. I
have a gende^lan in ipy eye who was ever among the foremost
in patriotism,^ and for volunteering our services on every occasion.
Was there an enterprise in view, replete with difficulty and dan-
ger! The Greens y in his opinion, should v^onopolize, or at least
partake of the glory. Was there a sacrifice to be made to
economy ! They should be the first to set an example of frugality
to their countr^^nien. In short, were it ^4o fight, to fast, to drink
up Elsil, eat a crocodile, he'd do*t." Yet this gentleman, so full
of zeal in seventy-five, was so thorou^y emptied of it in seventy-
six, as to translate himself to the royal standard in New Yodf ;
for which, however, he found a salvo in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. On the conclusion of the war, he was% in conside-
ration of his youth and inexperience when he committed the faux
pasy permitted to return to the bosom of his country, and adroitly
falling in with the views of the prevailing party, he obtained a
subordinate appointment in the Treasury Departxnent, during the
Presidencies of Washington and Adams : when again wheeling
about with the public sentiment, which ushered into office first
M*Kean and then Jefferson, he obtained, upon the principle pro-
bably of a quid pro quoy an office from each of them, the latter of
which he yet retains, and, like the French revolution, returning
to the point firom which it set out, he is now as pure a patriot as
he was at the commencement of his career. It must be confessed,
that the gentleman has had a serpentine course: Yet, without ar-
raigning his motives, which may have been good, though diver-
sified, I shall content myself with observing, that he has had the
singular fortune to behold with equal eye, the carting of the tories
in Philadelphia in the year 1775; the sad havoc of the whigs in
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR — ANECDOTE. 125
New York, in the year 1776 ; the discomfiture of the anti-iede-
raUsts, in the years 1790 and 1794 ; then the overthrow and per-»
secution of the federalists in the year 1800: In each and every of
these turmoils, he has contrived to be uppermost, and still ride$
triumphant on the surface of the tempestuous sea, an unequivocal
proof of his fitness for the times in which he has been destined to
appear. This instance would not have been adverted to, were it
not that in an illustration of the times, it was too remarkable to be
omitted.
In preparing for the scene of war that was approaching, no
martial employment was neglected. It was even deemed of con-r
sequence to be a marksman with a pistol; and connected with
this object, I recollect an unpleasant incident, which might also
have proved a serious one. Captain Biddle and myself having
gone out to take a shot, and posted ourselves in a situation^
thought convenient and safe, we marked our target on a board
fence, in a cross street, between Arch and Race streets. We had
fired several times, and were loading again,' when a man suddenly
coming upon us, out of breath,, pale as ashes, without his hat
and his hair standing on end, exclaimed, that we had killed bin
child. This information, as may be supposed, put a stop to our
amusement; and we immediately accompanied him to his house,
with feelic^ not to be envied. When we arrived, however, w^
found matters not so bad as had been anticipated. The child was
ciying in its mother's arms : it had been struck upon the body ; but
the force of the blow had been broken by a loose, linsey petticoat.
The ball had passed through a pane of glass ; and from the ap-
pearance of the hole exactly corresponding to its size without di-
vei^g cracks, it must have had considerable force, though dis-
charged at a distance which we thought greater than our pistols
would carry. By expressions of concern for the accident and the
accompaniment of a few dollars, our transgression was overlooked,
and all perturbation composed.
The daily unremitted course of exercise which my military
duties and my fencing, at this time composed, had thoroughly
established my health. The serious aspect of the times, had also
brought temperance into fashion ; and instead of tavern suppers,
I generally passed my evenings with my female acquaintance,
11*
126 DR. KEARSLEY.
among whom there was one to whom my affections were deeply
and permanently engaged. The attachment was reciprocal ; and
the din of anns which threatened us with a separation, involving a
cruel uncertainty in respect to the destiny of our love, but served to
render it more ardent and more tender.** Vows of constancy were
mutually plighted ; and we gave so much of our time to each other,
that I had little to spare to my quondam companions, whom I
was really desirous of shaking off, and who, on their part, com-
plained that I had turned dangler, and become good for nothing.
There was a time when their raillery might have had some eflect,
but now it was entirely thrown away, and, like a true kni^t, I
wholly devoted myself to my mistress and my country..
Among the disaffected in Philadelphia, Doctor Kearsley was
pre-eminently ardent and rash.f An extremely zealous loyalist,
and impetuous in his t^nper, he had ^ven much umbrage to the
whigs ; and if I am not mistaken, he had been detected in some
hostile machinations. Hence he was deemed a proper subject
for the fashionable punishment of tarring, feathering and carting.
He was seized at his own door by a party of the militia, and, in
the attempt to resist them, received a wound in his hand from a
bayonets Being overpowered, he was placed in a cart pro-
vided for the purpose, and amidst a multitude of boys and
idlers, paraded through the streets to the tune of the rogue's
march. I happened to be at the coffee-house when the concourse
arrived there. They made a halt, while the Doctor foaming with
rage and indignation, without his hat, his wig disheveUed and
bloody from his wounded hand, stood up in the cart and called
for a bowl of punch. It was quickly handed to him ; when, so
vehement was his thirst, that he drained it of its contents before
he took it from his lips^ What weie the feelings of others on
this lawless proceeding, I know not, but mine, I must confess,
* ** And flinlj is Ler heart can Wew,
To batUe march a lover (rue.
Can hear^ perchance^ his last adieu,
Nor own her share of pain.**
t Nephew oflhe celebrated Dr. John Kcafsley— founder of* Christ Church
Hospital for Poor Widows.** A ^ntleman much distin|ruished for his public
•pirit^and architcotoral taste.**— Eo.
MAXOB SKENE. 127
revolted at the spectacle. I was shocked at seeing a lately re-
spected citizen so crueUy vilified, and was imprudent enough to
say, that had I been a magistrate, I would, at every hazard, have
interposed my authority in suppression of the outrage. But this
was not the only instance which convinced me, that I wanted
nerves for a revolutionist. It must be admitted, however, that
the conduct of the populace was marked by a lenity which pecu-
liarly distinguished the cradle of our republicanism. Tar and
feathers had been dispensed with, and excepting the injury he
had received in his hand, no sort of violence was offered by the
mob to their victim. But to a man of hi^ spirit, as the Doctor
was, the indignity in its lightest fbrm was sufficient to madden
him: it probably had this efiect, smce his .conduct became so ex-
tremely outrageous, that it was thought necessary to confine him.
From the oity he was socoi after removed to Carlisle, where he
died during the war.
A few days after the carting of Mr. Kearsley, Mr. Isaac Hunt,
the attorney, was treated in the same maimer, but he managed the
matter much better than his precursor. Instead of braving his
conductors like the Doctor, Mr. Hunt was a pattern of meekness
and humOity ; and at every halt that was made, he rose and ex-
pressed his acknowledgments to the crowd for their forbearance
and civility. After a parade of an hour or two, he was set down
at his own door, as uninjured in body as in mind. He soon after
removed to one of the islands, if I mistake not, to Barbadoes,
where, it was understood, he took orders.*
Not long after these occurrences, Major Skene of the British
army, ventured to show himself in Philadelphia, f Whatever
* He did take ordcri, and upon his return to England, became a tutor in the
family of the Dake of Cbandos. He was the father of Mr. Leigh Hunt, cele.
brated for bis poetic genius, and for many valuable contributions to English
literature. — Ed.
t We are glid not to lose sight of this truly loyal and facetious gentleman,
lo the Appendix to the 3d volume of Sparks^ Life and WritingB of WosAti^ton,
is the following notice of him :
** Major Skene had been appointed Governor of Ticonde/oga and Crown Point,
and empowered to raise a regiment in America. On this ground he was taken
into custody, when be arrived in Philadelphia, June, 1775 ; his papers were ex-
amined by order of Congress, and he was retained as a prisoner. He had been
128 MAJOR SKENE.
might have been his inducement to the measure, it was deemed
expedient by the newly constituted authorities, to have him
arrested and secured. A guard was accordingly placed over him
at his lodgings, at the city tavern. The officer to whose charge
he was especially committed, was Mr. Francis Wade, the brewer,
an Irishman of distinguished zeal in the cause, and one who was
supposed to possess talents peculiarly befitting him for the task of
curbing the spirit of a haughty Briton, which Skene undoubtedly
was. I well recollect the day that the guard was paraded to
escort him out of the city on his way to some other station. An
immense crowd of spectators stood before the door of his quarters,
and lined the street through which he was to pas6. The weather
being warm, the windoy^ sashes of his apartment were raised, and
Skene, with his bottle of wine upon the table, having just finished
his dinner, roared out in the voice of a Stentor, " Crod save great
George our king P* Had the spirit of seventy-five in any degree
resembled the spirit of Jacobinism, to which it has been unjustly
compared, this bravado would unquestionably have brought the
Major to the lamp^posty and set his head upon a pike ; but as,
fortunately for him, it did not, he was suffered to proceed with
his song, aud the auditory seemed more generally amused than
offended.
many years in the army ; wae an enaigfn at Carthagena and Porto Bello, under
General Wentworth ; he served in Flanders ; was a Lieutenant at the battle of
Culloden ; served under Sir JeffVey Amherst in Canada ; was first Major of Bri.
grade at the conquest of Martinique and Havana^ at which latter place be entered
the breach when it was stormed ; was often wounded ; was appointed to run a
line between Canada and the British Colonies, and to superintend the settlement
of the border country, then uninhabited ; and, in 1773, he applied to Lord Dart-
mouth to recommend him to the King for the appointment of Governor of Ticoii>
deroga, Crown Point, and their dependencies, where he, at that time, commanded
a corps of militia, having lands and a residence at the southern extremity of
Lake Champlain.** — En.
C0K6&ES8. 129
CHAPTER V.
Coagreas Assembles. — Continental Battalions.— State of Parties. — ^Mr. Richard
Peon.~HiB Character.— Levjr of TroofMb— Officers. — Adventure. — ^Patriotism*
— ^Recruiting. — 111 Soecess. — Discipline. — Author sent on a Mission. — Baron
Woedtke. — Military Preparations. — Road to Albany.— Saratoga.— Fort Edward.
—Lake George.— General Schuyler. — ^His Character. — Author returns to his
Regiment — Judge Livingston.
In the spring of 1776^ Congress assembled in Philadelphia. It
was m every respect a venerable assembly ; and although Penn-
sylvania had delegated to it some of her most distinguished cha-
racters, they were supposed to be eclipsed by the superior talents
which came from the southward and eastward. New England
had sent her Adams's, and Virginia her Lee's and Henry's; all
of whom were spoken of as men of the first rate abilities. Not
long after the organization of this body, their president, Peyton
Randolph of Virginia, died, and John Hancock, of Boston, was
selected to supply his place. Towards the close of the year, they
passed a resolution for levying some continental battalions, four
of which were to be raised in Pennsylvania. One had ahready
been raised and officered by the province ; but as the applicants
for commissions in this, were not of my set of acquaintance, I did
not apply. Upon the promulgation, however, of this resolution
of Congress, I signified to the committee of safety, in whom the
power of appointment was lodged, and of which body my uncle
was a member, my wish to be employed. The appointments
were made, and in a list of thirty-two captains, I ranked the six-
teenth, and accordingly received my commission firom Congress,
dated January the 6th, 1776. Upon this nomination of the com-
mittee of safety, which also extended to all the inferior commis-
sioned officers, the field officers, who had already been assigned
130 CONTINENTAL BATTALIONS.
to particular battalions, had a meeting for the purpose of selecting
their captains and subalterns. In this arrangement, it fell to my
lot to be attached to the third battalion, under the command of
Colonel John Shee, and of which Mr. Lambert Cadwalader, the
younger brother of Mr. John Cadwalader, already mentioned, was
Lieutenant-Colonel. It appeared to have been the primary object
of these gentlemen, to select as much as possible their oflBcers
from the city and its neighbourhood, of whom they had a greater
proportion tiian was to be found in either of the other regiments,
respectively commanded by St. Clair, Wayne and Magaw. But
this circumstance, though it might have a propitious influence on
the discipline of the regiment when raised, was certainly un-
favourable to the business of recruiting, since, as the country was
chiefly to be depended upon for men, country officers would of
course, have the best chance of obtaining them.
But two gentlemen of what might be called our principal fami-
lies, had come forward on this occasion. These were Mr. Cad-
walader, and Mr. William Allen, who was appointed Lieutenant-
Colonel of the regiment of St. Clair : so that of four sons, the
eldest alone, Mr. John Allen, was an acknowledged disapprover
of our proceedings. The father, too old to be active, was yet
supposed to lean to the whig side. It would appear, however,
from the sequel, that this family were either never cordial in the
cause, or that they had inconsiderately imagined that its object
might be obtained by a resolute show of resistance, merely; since
upon the adoption of the measure of independence, all the sons,
excepting James, joined General Howe in New York. He re-
mained at home, and took his chance with his native country,
though wholly inactive. I remember once seeing him on New
York island, towards the close of the summer of 1776, where he
probably came to see how the land lay. But he was then in
I declining health, and in somewhat more than a year after, was
I relieved from all sublunary solicitudes ; as was his father also,
I before the close of the war. The revolution was fatal to this
, family, precipitating it from the very pinnacle of importance in
' Pennsylvania, down to the lowest depth of insignificance with
both parties. Its early whigism had perhaps as much disgusted
the tones, as its final defection had exasperated the whigs ; and
RICHABD PENN — AXECDOTE. 131
the British army, though it yielded it protection, afforded it little
of respect. Mr. William Allen endeavoured to recover his con-
sequence by raising, or endeavouring to raise, a regiment on the
royal side in Philadelphia in the year 1778, very pompously
heading his recruiting advertisement with the words, nil desperan-
dum Teucro ducey et auspice Teucro. It is to be presumed, how-
ever, that this swaggering motto referred to General Howe, and
not to himself.
Nor, in adverting to the mutability of human affairs, can we
overlook the imiavourable tendency of the contest to the proprie-
tary family. Both the brothers, John and Richard Penn, had been
governors of Pennsylvania ; the former being in office at the be-
ginning of hostilities. By }ielding to the torrent, which it would
have been impossible to withstand, he gave no offence, and avoided
reproach ; though it was deemed expedient to have him secured
and removed from Philadelphia, on the approach of the royal army
in the year 1777. Mr. Richard Penn, having no official motives
for reserve, was even upon terms of familiarity with some of the
most thorou^-gomg whigs, such as General Lee and others : An
evidence of this was the pleasantry ascribed to him, on occasion
of a member of Congress, one day observing to his compatriots,
that at all events "they must hang together:" "If you do not,
gentlemen," said Mr. Penn, " I can tell you that you will be very
apt to hang separately."*
Of all the governors of Pennsylvania under the old regimey he
was probably the most popular, though his popularity might not
have been precisely of the kind which irradiates a favourite of the
present day. It was, it must be confessed, a good deal confined
to the city ; and perhaps rather much to that description of per-
sons, who are not the chosen people of Virginian republicanism.
* This witticisiD is claimed for Franklin by Sparks, who Uius relates it in his
hifh of Franklin, page 408. It was at the signing of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence.
**We must be unanimous," said Hancock; ** there must be no pulling different
ways ; we must all bang together.*' ** Yes,** replied Franklin, ^ we must, indeed,
ftll hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.**
It has been ascribed also to Mr. John Penn, one of the signers of the Declara-
tion of Independence, and a member of Congress from North Carolina. Who
•hall settle the knotty point!— Eo.
132 OFFICERS.
But it was such as was then in feshion, and good and substantial
enough for those who knew no better. It required, however,
fewer sacrifices ; and might yield possibly as much pleasure on
retrospection, as that enjoyed by the most idolized of our demo-
cratic worthies.*
Agamst the expected hostilities, Pennsylvania had made im-
mense exertions. Prior to the four regiments of St. Clair, Shee,
Wayne and Magaw, that of De Haas, and Hand's rifle regiment,
were already raised and equipped ; and afterwards, Irvine's, and
two provincial battalions, respectively commanded by Miles and
Atlee, in the whole, nine regiments, complete and veiy reputably
officered. Had all the other provinces done as much in proportion
to their ability, and the men been enlisted for the war, we might
have avoided the hair-breadth 'scapes which ensued.
To return to smaller concerns. An anxiety little inferior to that
of the colonels, in procuring what they thought good officers for
their regiments, at this time, agitated the commanders of com-
panies, in respect to the subalterns that should be assigned them.
My second lieutenant, Mr. Forrest,t who had served his appren-
ticeship to an apothecary in Philadelphia, I well knew to be active,
capable, and more than commonly adroit in the military exercises ;
but my first lieutenant, I had not yet seen. I was not, however,
long in the dark, and when he appeared, I cannot say that his
exterior was the most prepossessing ; or that it announced those
qualities we at first look for in the soldier. He was tall, extremely
thin, and somewhat lounging in his appearance ; and to add to its
uncouthness, he wore an enormous fur cap. Colonel Shee used
* Richard Penn was the brother of John PeoD, Governor of Pennsylvania, at
the commencement of hostilities. He is described in Watson's Annals, as **a
fine portly looking man, — a hon vtwnl, vetj popolar. He died in England in
1811, at the age of 77 years.— En.
t Subsequently known as Colonel Forrest, and distinguished for leal and ac*
tivity daring the revolution. He was in several engagements, and had the cha.
raeter of being a brave and skilful officer. After the war he resided at German*
town, where his opinions underwent a remarkable change. He attached himself
to the society of Quakers, adopting their language and garb. He was a mmn
of considerable humoor, and of manners agreeable lo the ** sovereign people," who,
in 1815, elected him to Congress. Hedied in the year 1636, at the age of eighty-
three yearsi — En.
RECRUITING ADVENTURE. 133
to describe somewhat humourously, his first impression upon Asm;
and when he was first seen by a little Scotch servant boy of my
mother's, who afterwards became my drummer, he emphatically
exclaimed : Welly sic an a spindle ! Yet for all this, any man
might have thought himself honoured in having Mr. Edwards for
his lieutenant. Though bom in Pennsylvania, he was recent firom
a college in Khode Island. Possessing good sense, a remarkable
aptitude to take a polish, and talents to recommend himself to his
superiors in command, he soon obtained the favour of the colonels
of the regiment, with whom he was upon a very familiar footing.
He was, besides, a man of courage ; and in the course of the war,
became the aid-de-camp and particular firiend of General Lee ; so
much so, that he was one of the principal devisees in the will of
diat officer. Of my ensign, it will be enough to say, that he was
a plain and unaspiring man, who, in the walk of humble duty,
"kept the noiseless tenor of his way."
The object now was to raise my company, and as the streets of
the city had been pretty well swept by the preceding and contempo*
raiy levies, it was necessary to have recourse to the country. My
recruiting party was therefore sent out in various directions ; and
each of my officers as well as myself, exerted himself in the busi-^
ness. Among the many unpleasant peculiarities of the American
service, it was not the least that the drudgery, which in old mili*
tary establishments belong to sergeants and corporals, here de**
volved on the commissioned officers ; and that the whole business
of recruiting, drilling, &c., required their unremitted personal at«
tention. This was more emphatically the case in recruiting ; since
the common opinion was, that the men and the officers were never
to be separated, and hence, to see the persons who were to com«
mand them, and above all, the captain, was deemed of vast im-
portance by those inclining to enlist : for this reason I found it
necessary, in common with my brother officers, to put my feelings
most cruelly to the rack ; and in an excursion I once made to
Frankford, they were tried to the utmost. A number of fellows
at the tavern, at which my party rendezvoused, indicated a desire
to enlist, but althou^ they drank freely of our liquor, they still
held offi I soon perceived that the object was to amuse them*
selves at our expense, and that if there might be one or two among
12
134 PATRIOTISM.
them really disposed to engage, tbe others would prevent Ihem.
One fellow in particular, who had made the greatest show of
taking the bounty, presuming on the weakness of our party, con*
sisting only of a drummer, corporal, my second lieutenant and
myself, began to grow insolent, and manifested an intention to
begin a quarrel, in the issue of which, he no doubt calculated on
giving us a drubbing. The disgrace of such a circumstance, pre*
sented itself to my mind in colours the most dismal, and I re-
solved, that if a scuffle should be unavoidable, it should, at least,
be as serious as the hangers which my lieutenant and myself car-
ried by our sides, could make it Our endeavour, however, was
to guard against a contest ; but the moderation we testified, was
attributed to fear. At length the arrogance of Ihe principal ruffian,
tose to such a height, that he squared himself for battle and ad-
vanced towards me in an attitude of defiance. I put him by, with
an admonition to be quiet, thou^ with a secret determination, that,
if he repeated the insult to begin the war, whatever mi^t be the
coniBequence. The occasion was soon presented ; when taking
excellent aim, 1 struck him with my utmost force between the
eyes and sent him staggering to the other end of the room. Then
instantly drawing our hangers, and receiving the manful co-opera-
tion of the corporal and drummer, we were fortunate enough to
put a stop to any farther hostilities. It was some time before the
fellow I had struck, recovered fit)m the blow, but when he did,
he was quite an altered man. He was as submissive as could be
wished, begj^ng my pardon for what he had done, and although
he would not enlist, he hired himself to me for a few weeks as a
fifer, in which capacity he had acted in the militia ; and during
the time he wais in this employ, he bore about the effects of his
insolence, in a ps^r of black eyes. This incident would be little
worthy of relating, did it not sen^e in some degree to correct the
error of thoise who seem to conceive the year 1776 to have been a
season of almost universal patriotic enthusiasm. It was far from
prevalent in my opinion, among the lower ranks of the people, at
least in Pennsylvania. At all times, indeed, licentious, levelling
principles are much to the general taste, and were of course popu«
lar with us ; but the true merits of the contest, were little under-
stood or regarded. The opposition to the claims of Britain origi-
RECRUITING. 135
n^d with the better sort: it was truly aristocratic in its com-
mencement; and as the oppression to be apprehended, had not
been felt, no grounds existed for general enthusiasm. The cause
of liberty, it is true, was fashionable, and there were great prepara-
tions to fight for it; but a zeal proportioned to the magnitude of
the question, was only to be looked for in the minds of those
sagacious politicians, who inferred effects from causes, and who,
as Mr. Burke expresses it, "snuffed the approach of tyranny in
every tainted breeze."*
Certain it was, at least, that recruiting went on but heavily.
Some officers had been more successful than others, but none of
the companies were complete; mine perhaps contained about
half its complement of men, and these had been obtained by
dint of great exertion. In this situation, Captain Lenox of Shee's
regiment also, suggested the trying our luck on the eastern shore
of Maryland, particularly at Chester, situated on the river of that
name. It having been a place of some trade, it was supposed
there might be seamen or long shore men there, out of employ.
We accordingly set out on the expedition, making our first effort
at Warwick, an inconsiderable village, a few miles within the
boundaries of Maryland. Here we remained a day or two, our
stay having been prolonged by bad weather. At the tavern we
put up at, we made acquaintance with a gentleman of note, who
resided in the neighbourhood, and pretty generally known by the
familiar name of Dan Heath. He seemed to like our company,
as he was continually with us while we staid. Mr. Heath was a
sportsman, and apparently too little interested in political con-
cerns, to be either much of a whig or a tory, though from the in-
difference he evinced, we rather concluded him flie latter. He
helped us, however, to recniit, a fellow, he said, who would do
to stop a bullet as well as a better man, and as he was a truly worth-
* **Tbe American Revolatioa is, uniFersall^, admitted to have be^un in the
opper circles of society. It turned on principles too remote and abstrase for vuU
gu apprebensioQ or consideration. Had it depended on the unenlightened mass
of the community, no doubt can be entertained, that the tax imposed by parlia-
ment, would have been paid without a question. Since, then, the upper circle of
society did not take its impulse from the people, the only remaining inquiry is
who gave the Revolutionary impulse to that circle itself? It was unquestionably
Patbick Hkrbt.**— Wiit> Lt/s o/^e«ry.— £o.
136 RECRUITING.
le^ dog, he held, that the neighbourhood would be much in-
debted to U9 for taking him away. When we left Warwick, he
fulfilled his promise of accompanying us some miles under pre-
tence of aiding us in getting men, but as he showed us none,
we were convinced that he attended us more for his own sake
than ours, and that having nothing to do, probably, he had availed
himself the opportunity to kill a little time. He gave the tone to
the conversation on the road, which generally turned on the
sports of the turf and the cockpit ; but he never spoke with so
much animation, as when expatiating on those feats of human
prowess, wherein victory is achieved by tooth and nml, in modem
phrase, by biting and gouging : and pointing out to us one of the
heroes of these direful conflicts : " There," says he, " is a fellow
that has not hi$ match in the countiy: see what a set of teeth he
has, a ipian's thun\b would be nothing to them."
On bidding good morning to Mr« Heath, with whose vivacity
we were amused, we pursued our course to Chester, and as soon
as we arrived there, delivered our letters of introduction* The
gentlemen to whom they were addressed, received us with the
utmost politeness, and declared their warmest wishes for the'
success of our errand, though accompanied with expressions of
regret, that they could not give us encouragement to beat up
in their town, as well because there were few, if any, in it, that
were likely to enlist, as that their own province was about
raising troops ; and as that was the case> it would not be taken
well should they assist in transferring any of their men to the
line of Pennsylvania. With such unfavourable prospects in
Maryland, it would have been folly to have proceeded far-
ther: we therefore, set off on our way home the next morning,
declining several invitations to dinner. We found this country
well deserving of its reputation for hospitality. Between War-
wick and Georgetown, we were taken home to lodge by a gen-
tleman of the name of Wilmer, whom we had never seen be-
fore : We were warmly pressed by Mr. Hairy Pierce, with whom
we met by accident on the road, to spend some time with him
at his residence in the neighbourhood, and met with no less cor-
diality, from Mr. Thomas Ringold, of Chester, who had once
when very young, lodged at my mother's. Returning by War-
137
wick, we scDt forward our solitary recruit, for whom we tossed
up; and in winning, I was, in fact, but a very small gainer,
since his merits had been set at their full value by Mr. Heath ;
and he was never fit for any thing better than the inglorious post
of camp colour man.
After this unsuccessful jaunt, I bent my course to the Four-lane
ends, Newtown, and CorryelPs ferry ; thence passing into Jersey,
I proceeded to the I£ckory tavern, to Pittstown, Baptisttown,
Flemmingtown, and other towns, whose names I do not remem-
ber. As Captain Stewart (the late General Walter Stewart) of
our regiment, had recently reapt this field, I was only a gleaner:
In the whole of my tour, therefore, I picked up but three or four
men: and could most sincerely have said.
That the recrukinf trade, with aH its train«
Of endjeaa care^ fatigue, and endless pain,
I could most gladly have renounced, even without the very pre-.
ferable alternative of Captain Plume. My number of privates
might now have amounted to about forty, but these were soon
augmented by the noble addition of one and twenty stout native
Americans, brought by Lieutenants Edwards and Forrest from
£gg Harbour.
Towards spring, our battalion was complete; and already,
from the unremitted attention that had been paid to it by the of-
ficers of every grade, it had made, for so short a time, a very
laudable progress in discipline. Besides partial drillings it was
exercised every mprning and evening; and what was of still
more importance, habits of obedience and subordination were
strictly inculcated and maintained. We were comparatively
well armed, uniformed and equipped ; and it is but justice i(x
say, that in point of all the exteriors, by which military corps are
tested, ours was on a footing with the most promising on the con-
tinent We were quartered in the barracks, together with the
other battalions that were raising ; and by way of counteracting
the general gloom, not diminished by the practice of fast-dayS;
and sermons, borrowed from New England, we promoted balls
and other amusement. Had the contest been a religious one,
and our people b6en inflamed by a zeal on points of faith like
12*
138 AUTHOR SENT ON A MISSION.
the Crusaders or the army of Cromwell^ this might have been
the proper method of exciting them to acts of heroism ; but they
were to be taken as they were, and as this was not the case, it
was certainly not the mode to make soldiers in Pennsylvania.
The puritanical spirit was unknown among us ; and the endea-
vour to promote it, did but conflict with other propensities on
which a military ardour might be engrafted. It might, how-
ever, have been wholly d»flerent in New England; but whether
so or not, General Lee, with his usual profaneness^ treated their
solemnities with ridicule, telling them, in the spirit of the ancient
fable of Hercules and the wagoner, that Heaven was everf(mnd
favourable to strong battalions.
About the close of the month of May, I was appointed to carry
a sum of money in specie to General Schuyler at Lake Geoige,
for the purpose of promoting the operations in Canada ; and I
owed my nomination to this service to the friendly intentions of
President Hancock, who had particularly designated me. Ensign
Stout was the officer assigned by Colonel Shee to accompany me.*
We accordingly set out in a chair, that being thought the most
convenient mode of cairying the money, which was enclosed m
two or three sealed bags. One soldier mounted and armed in
addition, constituted the escort; and we were furnished with
credentials for obtaining fresh horses as often as they might be
necessary. To see the country between New York and the Lake,
which was entirely new both to my companion and myself, was
highly agreeable ; but we did not so well like the responsibility
of our charge. It is obvious that k might have been wrested from
us, without great difficulty, even though each one of the triumvi-
fate had possessed the bravery of Caesar. Hence, policy dictated
* Colonel John Sbeo. He was,.! think^from Lanoaster county. He had the
confidence of Washington, who, in a letter to the Preaident of Conpresa, of lOth
June, 1776, aaya, *^Congrei8 1 submit the propriety of keeping the two ContiDental
battalions, under Colonek Shee and Magaw, at Philadelphia, where there is the
greatest probability of a speedy attack upon this place from the King's troops.**
It will be seen, hereafter, that, having obtained leave of absence to risit his
family, he " converted that leave into an entire abdication of his command.** An
extraordinary procedure, certainly, on the part of an officer who had proved his
capacity and zeal, and who had enjoyed,, in a high degree, the confidence and
esteem of his supQrior8<— Eti»^.
BABON WOEDTKE. • 139
the concealment of the treasure, so far as might consist with the
requisite vigilance. At Princeton, where we dined on the second
day of our journey, we thought proper to have our bags brought
into our room. The inn-keeper, like the generality of his profes-
sion, was loquacious and inquisitive; and being an extremely
good whig into the bargain, took the liberty of sounding us re-
jecting the contents of our bags, of which he had formed a very
shrewd guess. We did not think it necessary to deny that they
contained money, or to conceal from him the object of our mis-
sion, which he was equally desirous of knowing. Upon learning
that the destination was Canada, he entered into a dissertation
upon our afiairs in that quarter, telling us among other things,
that the Prussian General, the Baron Woedkie, had been a few
days before at his house, on his way to that country. But he
reprobated the Baron in very hard terms, repeatedly exclaiming
with a most significant emphasis, that he was no general; and in
the sequel, favouring us with his reasons for this opinion, gave us
to understand, that he (the Baron) had made his servant grease
with a feather a certain part, to which he gave its very coarsest
appellation, that had suffered from the friction of riding. Whe-
ther our host had become acquainted with this circumstance by
looking through a key-hole, or by what other means, we were not
informed, but its unlucky effect upon him, convinced me of the
justness of the observation, that no man is a hero to his valet de
chatnbre. This same Baron it w^as, who, finding liberty, one day,
the impassioned theme of some members of Congress and others,
exclaimed — *^A, liberdy is afim ding; I likes liberdy; der koenig
von Prusse is a great man for liberdy! and so no doubt he was,
for his own liberty or importance as a member of the Germanic
body; and it might puzzle many a flaming demagogue to show a
better title to the character.*
* The honest Baron, however, was not more absurd than was the sticklers for
Bonaparte, who always connected liberty with his name and views, as the same
men did those of Robespierre, when riding at the top of the revolutionary wheel.
With them liberty appeared to mean hostility to all regular, legitimate govern,
ment ; which, in the same vocabulary signifies tyranny. New power creates
new men, ergo, the devotion to it of all ambitions insignificants.
BaiOADiEa.GENESAL THE Baron DE WoEDTKE.—WiLKiNsoN in his Memoirg
gives some account of this Prussian officer ; but it is, by no means, flattering.
140 • NEW YORK — ^MILITA&Y PREPARATIONS.
But notwithstanding this requisite for our service, evinced by
the Baron's love of liberty, I believe he did not very well suit us;
and that although The Prussian General made a great noise upon
his first appearance, the public mind in respect to him, whether
correct or not, pretty well accorded with that of our host, who, at
parting with us, expressed much anxiety for our safety and that
of our charge, recommending to us in future, not to take our bags
out of the chair, where we breakfasted and dined. The propriety
of this advice we were aware of, and observed it where practica-
ble ; that is, where the treasure was sufficiently under our eyes
without removal.
At New York, we spent about an hour m a slight survey of the
barricades, which General Lee had caused to be thrown across
some of the streets ; and on our way out of town, fell in with
a New England regiment at exercise. Its commander was ex-
tremely busy, in instructing his troops in street firing, at that day,
our most favourite mancBuvre ; as we simply supposed that all
our great battles were to be fought in our cities. We surveyed
these men with all the respect that was due to the great military
reputation of their country; but, we were obliged to confess,
that they did not entirely come up to the ideas we had formed
of the heroes of Lexington and Bunker's hiU. This, we took
to be a militia corps, from the circumstance of its not being a
He had been sent with instructions to the Baron^ to detach 500 men, to cover
Greneral Arnold's retreat from MontreaL In his search for the Baron, he en-
countered difficulties and hardships, which are graphically described : ** After a.
ntght^B rest in a filthy cabin, I resumed my march, and the first officer of my
acquaintance whom I met, was Lieutenant-Colonel VITilliam AUen, of the second
Pennsylvania regiment, who, to my inquiry for De Woedtke,* replied, he had 'im
dambt tkt bea$t toot drunk, and in front of the army.* I then informed him of my
orders for a detachment His reply was remarkable : * This army, Wilkinson, is
conquered by its fears, and I doubt whether you can draw any assistance from
it; but Colonel Wayne is in the rear, and if any one can do it, he is the man.*
On this I quickened my pace, and half an hour after met that gallant soldier, as
much at his ease as if he was marching to a parade of exercise ; he confirmed
Allen's report respecting De Woedtke, and without hesitation determined to exe-
cute the order."
**The Baron,** says Sparks, ** had been for many years an officer in the army
of the King of Prussia, and had risen to the rank of Major. Coming to Phila-
delphia with strong letters of recommendation to Dr. Franklin fh>m persons of
eminence in Paris, he was appointed by Congress a Brigadier-GeneraL He died
«l Like George ia the semmer of 1776.'*— Eik
8ABAT06A — CANADA COMMISSIONERS. 141
whit superior, in any visible respect, to the worst of ours. How-
ever, thought we, these men may nevertheless have some knack
at fighting, which only discloses itself in the moment of action.
After leaving New York, we passed through a number of
villages between that city and Albany ; but these, of which the
almanacs will give a much more accurate account than I can, I
shall neither undertake to name or locate. Poughkeepsie, how-
ever, must be excepted ; as here we quartered for a night, under
the hospitable roof of old Doctor Baird, so called to distinguish
him from his son of the same profession. The doctor was a re-
lation of Mr. Stout's, and on my being made known to him, I had
the satisfaction to find that he had formerly been acquainted with
both my father and mother, of whom he spoke in the warmest
and most friendly terms. My mother, he was pleased to say, he
remembered, the finest girl in Philadelphia ; and that she had the
manners of a lady bred at a court. The old gentleman was one
of those who went under the denomination of tories ; but if it
was jusdy applied, he possessed too much liberality to permit his
politics, in any degree, to interfere with the duties of hospitality.
He considered us probably as young men, deluded but not sedi-
tious ; as accessary to, but not responsible for, the calamities
which were about to befal the country ; and in addition to a good
supper, entertained us with the military exploits of the Duke of
Marlborough, who appeared to be his favourite hero.
In the morning betimes we pursued our journey, and in the
course of it, reached Albany about noon. Here we dined with a
gentleman in regimentals bearing the title of major ; though I do
not either recollect his name, or the corps to which he belonged,
if indeed he belonged to any, for majors and captains had by this
time, become very good traveDing appellations. He had just re-
turned from Canada, and drew a most lamentable picture of our
afl[airs in that country, descanting upon men and things with equal
fireedom and satire. He delivered himself with unusual flip-
pancy ; and wound up a very animated philippic upon our mili-
tary operations in that quarter, with an, " in short, gentlemen, we
have commissaries there without provisions ; quarter-masters with-
out stores ; generals without troops ; and troops without discipline,
by G— d."
142 LAKE GEORGE.
Leaying Albany, we passed by Stillwater, Saratoga, and other
places, which have since acquired interest from the defeat and
surrender of General Burgoyne and his army. Near to Fort Ed-
ward we met Doctor Franklin, Mr. Carroll, and (I think) Mr.
Chase, returning from Canada, to which they had been deputed
commissioners from Congress.* We delivered them a letter from
that body, as we had been enjoined to do in case of meeting
them, as also to take their orders in respect to our ulterior pro-
ceedings : As they made no change in our destination, we went
on. Immediately beyond Fort Edward, the country assumed a
dreary, cheerless aspect. Between this and lake George, a dis-
tance of about twelve miles, it was almost an entire wood, ac-
quiring a deeper gloom, as well from the general prevalence of
pines, as from its dark, extended covert being presented to the
imagination as an appropriate scene for the ^* treasons, stratagems
and spoils'' of savage hostility ; to which purpose, it had been de-
voted in former days of deadly dissension. It was in this tract
of country that several actions had been fought ; that Baron Dies-
kau had been defeated ; and that American blood had flowed, as
well as English and French ; in commemoration of which, the
^ The commiMionera were Dr. Franklin, Samael Cham, and Charles Carroll
of CarroUton, all signers of the Declaration of Independence ; and the Reverend
John Carroll, afterwards Romish Archbishop of Baltimore, whose religious pro-
fession and character, and French education pecaliarly fitted him, it was sap-
posed, **to exercise a salutary inflneuce with the priests in Canada, who were
known to control the people.*' Mr. Chase was greaUy distinguished by bis
eloquence, abilities, and zeal in the revolutionary cause. In 1791, he was ap-
pointed Chief Justice of the general Court of Maryland ; and five years afterwards
was promoted by Washington, to the office of an associate judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States. Having, in his official conduct, given much ofi[ence
to the Democratic party, he was impeached by the House of Representativer
His trial before the Senate " is memorable on account of the excitement which
it produced, the ability with which he was defended, and the nature of his ac-
quittal.''
He continued the exercise of his judicial functions, with signal ability, until
his decease, on the 19th of June, 1811.
Charles Carroll of CarrollUm, the last of the signers of the Declaration, was
bom in 1737. He was a member of Congress for several years. He served in
the United States from 1788 to 1791, firom which time until 1801, he was an
active member of the Senate of Maryland — his native state. He died on the 14th
of November, 1832.— Ed.
LAKE GEORGE— e£N£RAL SCHUYLER. 143
terror we attach to the adventitious circumstances which seem to
accelerate man's doom, had given to a piece of standing water
near the road, the name bloody pond. The descending sun had
shed a browner horror on the wilderness ; and as we passed the
dismal pool, we experienced that transient emotion of commissera-
tion, which is natural to the mind when contemplating past events,
involving the fall of friends, the fortune of war, and the sad lot of
human kind. Deaique ob casus beUorunij et sortem homtTwm.
At lei^th, after a journey of three hundred and thirty miles,
arriving at the quarters of General Schuyler, on the border of the
Lake, we acquitted ourselves of our charge. He proposed to
me, if agreeable, to go on with it ; but in addition to attractions of a
private nature, which drew me to Philadelphia, the wish to be
there in order to make provision for our march to New Yoik,
orders for which had been daily expected before we set out, in-
duced me to decline the opportunity of seeing the country beyond
the Lake, as well as my friends in the northern army. We there-
fore only staid at this post, until the return despatches to Congress
were prepared, which was the third day after our arrival.
Though General Schuyler has been charged with such haughti-*
ness of demeanour, as to have induced the troops of New Eng-
land to decline serving under his command, as stated in Marshall's
Life of Washington, tiie reception we met with, was not merely
courteous but kind. His quarters being contracted, a bed was
prepared for us in his own apartment, and we experienced civili-
ties that were flattering from an officer of his high rank. Though
thoroughly the man of business, he was also a gentleman and
man of the world ; and well calculated to sustain the reputation
of our army in the eyes of the British officers, (disposed to de-
preciate it,) as is evidenced by the account given by General
Burgoyne of the manner in which he was entertained by him at
Albany. But that he should have been displeasing to the Yavkees^
I am not at all surprised: he certainly was at no pains to conceal
the extreme contempt he felt for a set of officers, who were both
a disgrace to their stations and the cause in which they acted!*
* Peabody, in bit Life of Sallivanf tpeakt of General Schuyler ** as a brave
and indefatigable officer, wboae unpopularity through a large portion of the
144 CHARACTER OF GEN. SCHUTLER.
Being yet a stranger to the character of these men, and the con*
stitution of that part of our military force which in Pennsylvania
was considered as the bulwark of the nation, I must confess my
surprise at an incident which took place while at dinner. Besides
the Greneral, the members of his &mily and ourselves, there were
at table a lady and gentleman from Montreal. A New England
Captain came in upon some business, with that abject serviUty of
manner, which belongs to persons of the meanest rank: he was
neither asked to sit or take a glass of wine, and after announcing
his wants, was dismissed with that peevishness of tone we apply
to a low and vexatious intruder. This man, in his proper sphere,
might have been entitled to better treatment; but when presuming
to thrust himself into a situation, in which, far other qualifications
than his were required, and upon an occasion too which involved
some of the most important of human interests, I am scarcely
prepared to say, it was unmerited.*
The day we spent at this station was employed in taking a
view of the remains of Fort William Henry, and in sauntering
country it it not easy to expl&in.*' Mr. Graydon has briefly tolved the mystery.
Of the justice of the above observations, respecting New England officers, we
have no means of judging. It cannot, however, fail to excite a feeling of regret
that such severity of expression was considered necessary in regard to them, what-
ever may have been their demerits. Our New England brethren nobly performed
their whoU duty throaghout the entire war, and well have they since sustained
their republican institutions and character.
General Schuyler had the reputation of being cold and reserved in his intercourse
with officers and men. Such was his natural disposition. But he was a brave,
accomplished and devoted patriot, and his name and reputation will ever be dear
to his comitry.
General Wilkinson's impressions, however, appear to have been of a diffident
and more favourable character. He says, ** Schuyler was an eUve of Major-
General Bradstreet in the seven years* war,, possessed a strong, fertile and colli,
vated mind ; with polished manners he united the most amiable disposition and
insinuating address, and his convivial pleasantry never failed to interest and
enliven his society ; in the discharge of his military duties, he was able, prompt,
and decisive, and his conduct in every branch of service marked by active in-
dustry and rapid execuUon.'J-^En.
* See in Appendix H, a letter from General Wasbimotoii to President Reed,
dated •• Head Quarters, Panaio Falls, 18th Oct, 1780,** oo the subject of Ge-
neral Schuyler and General Arnold, also showing that he never had any particular
eonaideratiou fiMr> or oonfidtnee b, the hitter. — En.
XETUBN OF THE AUTHOR — JUDGE LIVINGSTON. 145
along the maigin of the immense fountain of pure water which
constitutes Lake George. We were much indebted upon this
occasion to the polite attentions of Mr. Brockolst Livingston,*
who was at this time one of the Aids-de-camp of Gen. Schuyler,
and who so far dispensed with his avocations as to show us what
was worthy of beii^ seen. We lost no time in setting off, as
soon as the despatches were ready for us ; and returned with all
possible expedition, in order to prepare ourselves for the expected
march of our regiment to join the main army under the Commander^
in-chief. Orders for that purpose had already been received, and
were complied with in about a week after our return. The troops
were transported by water to Trenton ; from whence marching to
Elizabethtown, they were again embarked in vessels which carried
them to New York.
* Son of the celebrated William Ltvingaton — Governor of New Jeraey. He
waa entered aa a atudent at Nasaaa Hal], Princeton, but left the College, in
1776, for the field, and became one of the iamily of Gen. Schuyler. He was
afterward* attached to the snite of Gen. Arnold, with the rank of Major, and
shared in the honour of the conquest of Burgoyne.
In 1779 he accompanied Ma. Jay to Spain, aa private Secretary. In 1802 he
waa called to the Bench of the Supreme Court of New York, and in 1806, waa
transferred to that of the Supreme Court of the United States, which atation he
held, with distingruiahed ability, until his decease in March, 1823, in the 66th
year of bis age. — ^En.
13
146 THE AVTHOB LEAVES PHILADELPHIA.
CHAPTER VI.
The Author leaves Philadelphia. — ^Appearance of the Army.— Character of tbtf
Soldiers. — Erection of Fort WaihingtoiL— Fort LeCd— 4:)faaracter of General
Mifflin. — An odd Character.^Oonnecticot Light Horse. — Character of the
Army. — Declaration of IndepeDdence. — Statue of Georgpe III. — ^BriUsh land on
Long^ Island. — ^Action with the Enemy. — ^New YorL — Privations of Soldien.— '
Longr Island. — Entrenchments. — Sliirmishiog. — Midnight Scene in Camp^-'
Retreat to New York. — Reflections. — Washington Tindicated*— General Howe.
— Conduct of the British.
The much deprecated event of marching from Philadelphia,
was not the less afflicting for^having been foreseen. The reader
is acquainted with the attraction which existed there ; and it is
for those alone who have felt the efiervescence of the passions,
to form a just conception of the pangs, attendant on this separa-
tion from it. To say it was a disruption of my heart strings,
would be a language neither too forcible nor figurative for the
occasion. The other absences imposed by the demands of impe-
rious duty, were not without disquietude ; but they were cheered
by the prospect of a speedy termination. This, before me, was
a toiling sea without a shore ; a dreary, illimitable void ; and in
subjecting myself to the stern mandate which now forced me
away, I recognise a sacrifice which imparts some merit to my
poor exertions in behalf of my country. If equal deprivations
were sustained by others,! venture confidently to affirm, that es-
timated by the measure of suffering, none were greater than my
own. On account of my late service interfering with the neces*
sary preparations for the march, I had been permitted for about
a week, to defer the moment of exile. When no longer to be
postponed, I took my passage in the stage, where, indifferent to
all around me, I sat ruminating on scenes of happiness departed,
cheerless and lost to every hope of their return. Dreams of gloiy,
h is true, sometimes crossed my imagination, but discordant to
APPEAEANCE OF THE ABMY. 147
the tone of the predominant passion, the images were painful, and
deeply tinged with despair. In so desolating a frame of mind,
I perceiyed the necessity of active duty, which should leave me
no time for reflection ; and under this impression, as I approached
my place of destination, became as impatient for its attainment
as I had been reluctant in setting out for it; eager to immerse
myself in martial occupations,
" Ab in the hardy camp and toilsome march.
Forget all soUer and less manly cares.**
A considerable portion of our motley army had already as-
sembled in New York and its vicinity. The troops were chiefly
from the eastern provinces; those from the southern, with the
exception of Hand's, Magaw's, and our regiment, had not yet
come on. The appearance of things was not much calculated to
excite sanguine expectations in the mind of a sober observer.
Great numbers of people were indeed to be seen, and those who
are not accustomed to the sight of bodies under arms, are al-
ways prone to exaggerate them. But this propensity to swell
the mass, had not an equal tendency to convert it into soldiery;
and the irregularity, want of discipline, bad arms, and defective
equipment in all respects, of this multitudinous assemblage, gave
no favourable impression of its prowess. The materials of which
the eastern battalions were composed, were apparently the same
as those of which I had seen so unpromising a specimen at Lake
George. I speak particularly of the ofiicers, who were in no
single respect distinguishable from their men, other than in the
coloured cockades, which, for this very purpose, had been pre-
scribed in general orders ; a difierent colour being assigned to
the officers of each grade. So far from aiming at a deportment
which might raise them above their privates, and thence prompt
them to due respect and obedience to their commands, the ob-
ject was, by humility, to preserve the existing blessing of equa-
lity : an illustrious instance of which was given by Colonel Put-
nam, the chief engineer of the army, and no less a personage than
the nephew of the Major-General of that name, " What," says a
person meeting him one day with a piece of meat in his hand,
" carrying home ypur rations yourself, Colonel !" " Yes," says
148 CHAEACTER OF THE SOLDIERS.
he, '^ and I do it to set the officers a good example." But if any
aristocratic tendencies had been really discovered by the Colonel
among his countrymen, requiring this wholesome example, they
must have been of recent origin, and the effect of southern con-
tamination, since I have been credibly informed, that it was no
unusual thing in the army before Boston, for a Colonel to make
drummers and fifers of his sons, thereby, not only being enabled
to form a very snug, economical mess, but to aid also considera-
bly the revenue of the family chest. In short, it appeared, that
the sordid spirit of gain was the vital principle of this greater
part of the army.* The only exception I recollect to have seen,
to these miserably constituted bands from New England, was
the regiment of Glover from Marblehead.f There was an ap-
* This Bentiment is supported by a paBsage in a letter from GSenera] Wabbino-
Tov to General Reed, dated Cambridge, 10th February, 1776.
** Notwithstanding all the public virtue which is ascribed to these people, there
is no nation under the sun that pays more adoration to money than they do.**
I am aware that these references to Greneral Washiiniton^s sentimenta will be
strongly repulaive to the feelings of many worthy men„ from the consideratioQ
tliat the Generars character stands particularly high in New England, and that
in that quarter of the Union are found not only the greatest number of his admirers,
but also many of the ablest defenders of his policy and fame. Bat can these ooo-
fidential declarations of his opinions, emanating from an ardent love of his coun-
try and zeal in her cause, justly lessen him in the estimation of a single man of
liberality and understanding? Is truth to be eternally muffled up and the mate-.
rials of faithful history suppressed, lest her exposure in certain instances may be
displeasing to some good men and grateful to a malignant faction? for oseful it
cannot be. To the promulgation indeed of these troths,, the retribution is certain.
His book, ** the onkindcst cut of all,** to an author, will not sell. It will be shunned
like a pestilence in those places, where tbe truths it holds out^ are unwelcome.
For this reason I have been given to understand that my publication w91 not do
at all for a New England market Some repugnance of the same kind would
seem to exist against it in New York, as not long since a book-seller of that city
informed me he could not dispose of a single copy. £ven in its birth-place, Peniw
sylvania, it is very illy calculated for popularity ; and as for Virginia and her
dependencies sweeping the whole Southern States to Louisiana inclusive,, it must
then be, if not too contemptible for notice, a subject of the bitterest execration.
Nevertheless, I am consoled by the invincible pride of conscious honesty and the
major arnica Veritas^ in a collision with all other friendships.
t John Glovkr, a native of M arblehead, in Massachusetts, a Brigadier-General
in the army of the United States. With his command he formed the advance of
the army in its passage of the Delaware, and was, of course, at the Battle of Tren.
ton. He condnjcted Burgoyne*B army,, after its Borrender, through the New Eag"
CHARACTEB. OF THE SOLDIERS — GENERAL GLOVER. 149
pearance of discipliDe in this corps ; the officers seemed to hav^
mixed with the world, and to understand what belonged to their
stations. Though deficient, perhaps, in polish, it possessed an
apparent aptitude for the purpose of its institution, and gave a
confidence that myriads of its meek and lowly brethren were in-
competent to inspire. But even in this regiment there were a
number of negroes, which, to persons unaccustomed to such as-«
sociations, had a disagreeable, degrading effect.
If there were any troops here, at this time, from Jersey, I do not
recollect seeing them ; and thosie of New York, appeared not to be
very numerous. They, however, afforded officers, who might
have been distinguished without a badge ; and who were suffi*
ciently men of the world, to know that the levelling principle was
of all others, the most incompatible with good soldiership. Colo-
nel Hamilton* had been furnished by this province, making his
ddnU in the new career as a captain of artillery ; but I never saw
him in this capacity, and I believe he was soon taken into the
ftmilyof the Commander-in-chief. Reinforcements were yet ex-.
pected firom the southward. Among these were Miles'sf and
land States. He enjoyed, in a very high degree, the confidence and esteem of the
CommaDd«r.in-chief, whom oommendation wai warmly bestowed. He served
throogfaoot the war with high reputation.— tEa.
* AuxAifDBR Hamilton, a name not very dear to the ^progressrve dismooraoy *'*
of oar party-ridden ooantry, but nevertheless, one of the brightest and greatest that
ever adorned the annals of any nation. His personal appearance is graphically
described by SoUivan in his ** Familiar Letters,** already quoted : ** He was under
middle size, thin in person, but remarkably erect and dignified io his deportment.
His hair was turned back from his forehead, powdered, and collected in a club
behind. His complexion was exceedingly fair, and varying from this only by the
almost femhiiiie rosiness of his cheeka. His might be considered, as to figure
and colour, an uncommonly handsome face. When at rest, it had rather a severe,
and thoughtful expression ; but when engaged in conversation, it easily assumed
an attractive smile. When he entered a room it was apparent, fr/>m the respect-
fill attention of the company, that he was a distinguished person.
His appearance and deportment accorded with the dignified distinction to which
he had atUined in public estimation.** At the period of his death, in July, 1804,
he was io his 4Sth year.— En.
t MiLO is mentioned by Washington in his letter to the President of Congress^
dated New York, August 12ti), 1776:
"Hie enemy have made no movements of consequence, nor have we any farther
iolelligenee of their designs. Colonel Smallwood and his battalion got in on
13*
150 CHARACTER OF THE SOLDIERS.
Atlee's provincial regiments from Pennsylvania ; Hazlet's* from
Delaware, and Smallwood'sf from Maryland, both, I think, on the
continental establishment; and in addition, lai^ drafts from die
militia of Pennsylvania. All these were assembled in time for the
opening of the campaign : but although the multitude, of which
they were a part, contained some excellent raw materials, and was
not without officers of spirit, possessing feelings suitable to thrir
situation, yet diffused throughout the mass, they were certainly
extremely rare. The eye looked round in vain for the leading
gentry of the country ; those, most emphatically pledged to the
cause, "by life, by fortune, and by sacred honour ;"t and taking
the army in the aggregate, with its equipments along with it, he
must have been a novice or a sanguine calculator, who could sup-
pose it capable of sustaining the lofty tone and verbal energy of
Congress. In point of numbers merely, it was deficient; though
a fact then little known or suspected. Newspapers and common
report, indeed, made it immensely numerous ; and it was repre-
sented that Greneral Washington had so many men, that he wanted
Friday ; and Colonel Miles ia abo hero witfi two battalbns more of P^ennajlfaoia
riflemen/*
* Colonel John Maslvt : He diatingmshed himself at the Battle of Lon^ Island.
In 1776» with seven handred and fifty men, he attacked the enemy*k outposts at
the Village of Mamaronee, and forced their goards, taking thirty.siz prisoners, a
pair of colours^ and sixty stand of arms. He was killed at the Battle of Prince-
ton.
+ Colonel WiLUAM Smallwoo» was at the action of White Plains. He was pro-
moted to the rank of general, and, in 1777, was despatched to take command of
the Maryland Militia on the Western Shore. He joined the main army in Sep-
tember of the same year, and was at the Battle of Germantown. In 1785, he was
elected to Congress, and the same year. Governor of Maryland*. He died, Febni'
ary, 1792.— Ed.
t Congress, to be sore, were privileged; and thera most be civil fiinctions as
well as military^ But these were a good deal a matter of choice ; and as the war
was a common cause, the very creature of association, its rubs should have been
somewhat e^nalixed^ Thoughts of this kind, however, would sometimes intmdeinto
minds soured by hard duty. Another thing whieh also tended to lessen the nmnber
of young men of figure was, that many prudent men thought the time extremely
convenient for sending their sons to Europe fi>r education. There they could be
better taught and were out of harm*s way; and upon the whole, one is justified in
saying as Cornelius Nepos does of the Athenians, in his Life of Thraaybolns,
warn jam iUU temporiJbu^fortiutt bom pra liberme lofitebmUur^ ^uam pugnmkuni.
FORT WASHINGTON. — COLONELS MA6AW AND PUTNAM. 151
DO more, and had actually sent many home, as superfluous. It
is true, there were men enough commg and going; yet his letters
of that day demonstrate how truly weak he was in steady, perma-
nent soldiers.
It was probably between the twentieth and twenty-fifth of June,
that I arrived in this busy scene ; in a few days after which, our
regiment and Magaw's* were marched towards Kingsbridge, and
encamped upon the ground on which Fort Washington was
erected. We were here under the command of Greneral Mifflin,
and immediately employed in the construction of that fortress,
under the direction of Colonel Putnam, who, as already men-
tioned, was our principal engineer, and, considering his want of
experience, not destitute, perhaps, of merit in his profession. As
a man may be a rhetorician or a logician though unacquainted
^rith the terms of the art, so might Mr. Putnam have been a good
practical artist, though misterming the Gorge the George. But
this was merely a mistake in pronunciation ; and I will not per-^
mit myself to question, that he had real science wiough to have
smelt out Moliere's jest about a devn-ttme and a tune Unite erv^
fiere.f
* Cbhmel Robcrt Maoaw.—^Ho was appointed to the comniaiKf of Fort
WaihiD^n. When General Howe demanded the surrender of the garrison,
Coloiiel Magaw returned the following gallant answer to the British Adutant-
General :^ —
">15<A Notemhtf^ 1776."
•* Sir, ifl rightly undienitand the purport of your message from General Howe,
communicated to Colonel Swoope^ this post is to be immediately surrendered, or
put to the sword. I think it rather a mistake^ than a settled purpose of General
Howe, to act a part so unworthy of himself, and of the British natioiK But give
me leave to assure his Excellency, that, actuated by the most glorious cause that
mankind ever fought in, I am determined to defend this post to the rery last ex-
tremity.—Robert Magaw.**— Ed.
1 Colonel Rcrros Putnam. — In regard to his qualkicatioos as an engineer.
General Washington, in his letter to Congress of 20th December, 1776, says, "I
have also to mention, that^ for want of some establishment in the department of
engineers, agreeably to the plan laid before Congress, in October last, Colonel
Putnam, who was at the head of it, has quitted^ and taken a regiment in Massa-
chusetts. I know of na other man tolerably well qualified, for the conducting
of that business. None of the French gentlemen, whom I have seen, with ap.
pointments in that way, appear to me, to know any thing of the matter.** And
again in hia letter lo Congress, from Poropton Plains, in July,, 1777,. he remarks,.
152 FORT WASHINGTON.
In the course of some weeks, our labours had produced im-
mense mounds of earth, assuming a pentagonal form^ and finally
issuing in a fort of five bastions. As Caesar, in his operations,
has been said to have made great use of the spade, I shall not
insist upon the improbus labor being beneath the dignity of a
soldier ; but certain it is, that we then thought it so, and that the
continual fatigue-duty we were subjected to, was not only extremely
irksome, but imfaYourable also to our improvement in tactics,
which, nevertheless, was assiduously attended to. The perpe-
tual clouds of dust which the dry weather of the season occa-
sioned, gave us the appearance of scavengers ; a circumstance
sadly at variance with the neatness of person inculcated by
Colonel Shee, and of which he was an enthusiastic admirer : it
made our duty also extremely severe, and gave me an inflamma-
tion in my eyes, which was the only indisposition I experienced
during the campaign. Sickness, however, on the approach of
M, prevailed among our men to a great degreee \: and little
more than half our number, was at any time fit for duty. Thus,
without fighting, are armies ^^slug^hly melted away."
One of the chief objects in building Fort Washington is under-
stood to have been, to prevent the enemy passing up the Hudson,
on whose eastern bank it stood, on very commanding ground.
On the opposite side of the river. Fort Lee, in the same view,
was afterwards erected: and these, with the sinking of some
hulks in the channel, were expected, or at least hoped, to be
sufficient for the purpose. But the inefficacy of these impedi-
ments was soon evinced by two fingates, that taking advantage
of a favourable wind, sailed by us with great gallantry, in English
phrase, returning our fire in great style. We were too high for
their guns to be brought to bear upon us with any certainty;
though one ball was thrown into the fort. Our elevated situation
was nearly as unfavourable to the success of our fire upon them ;
** Colonel Putnam, I imajrine, will be with him (General Schnyler) before this, a*
bis rejriment is part of Nivon*8 brigade, who will answer every purpoee be caa
poMibI J have for an engineer at tbii crisia.**
Colonel Patnam served well and faithful] j, throughout the war ; at its close be-
held the rank of Brigadier-General, and was,, subsequently, one of the first ae^
tters in the North Western territwy.— En,
GENERAL MIFFLIN. 153
to remedy which in future, a battery was constructed below, in a
very advantageous position. But this was attended with no better
effect; as two other firigates, not long after, passed in defiance of
the guns of both batteries, and apparently without having sus-
tained the slighest injury. I afterwards learned, however, when
prisoner in New York, that upon one of these occasions, one of
the frigates had been hulled, and some men killed and wounded ;
among the latter, a midshipman, a son of Mr. Courtland Skinner,
of Amboy, lost his arm.
To have been regular, I should have mentioned the arrival of
the hostile forces, and their occupancy of Staten Island as a pre-
paratory station. From the uncertainty in what quarter tiiey
might invade us, the utmost vigilance was inculcated every where,
and observed at our post. The lines were manned every morn-
ing an hour before day-light ; we were several times formed for
action ; and once marched to Bloomingdale in fiill expectation
^f meeting the enemy, who it was confidently asserted, had made
good a landing there, or in the neighbourhood. The intelligence
proved untrue, if such indeed had been received. But it is not
improbable, that it was merely a contrivance of General Mifflin,
to inure us to alarms and render us alert, objects, that to a certain
extent, were not without utility ; but the Gteneral was a bust-
ler, who harassed us unnecessarily ; and, considering the un-
avoidable severity of our duty, to the real mjury of the health of the
troops. His manners were better adapted to attract popularity
than to preserve it. Highly animated in his appearance, and
possessing in an eminent degree the talent of harranguing a mul-
titude, his services in giving motion to the militia, were several
times, in the course of the war, felt and acknowledged ; but that
he was equally calculated to keep alive military ardour and con-
fidence, cannot be affirmed. He was full of activity and appa-
rently of fire ; but it rather resembled the transient blaze of light
combustibles, than the constant, steady flame of substantial fuel :
though in saying this it should be mentioned, that I have no
ground to insinuate that his fortitude was not equal to any de-
mand that might have been made upon it. He assumed a little
of the veteran from having lain before Boston ; was very fond of
telling us that he would bring us into a scrape ; and it must be
154 AN ODD CHARACTEK.
confessed, that he was considerably happy in the display of that
apathy to human carnage, which is affected by great commanders,
in the spirit of which the great Frederick tells us, that " When
sovereigns play for provinces, the lives of men are but as coun-
ters." So much His better to direct the game, than be a compo-
nent part of its machinery! But whatever might have been
Mifflin's deficiencies, he had many qualifications for his station
that too many others, placed in higher ones, wanted. He was a
man of education, ready apprehension and brilliancy ; had spent
some time in Europe, particularly in France, and was very easy
of access with the manners of genteel life, though occasionally
evolving those of the Quaker. In delineating both men and
events, my object is truth; otherwise the fiiendly attention I
never fail to receive fi-om this gentleman, might have led me into
a strain of less qualified encomium.*
The first frigates that passed us, took their station in Tappan
sea, where an attempt was made to set them on fire. It failed as
to the larger vessels, but a tender was destroyed. One of the
persons who embarked in this service as a volunteer, was the
surgeon's mate of our regiment, a singular character and degene-
rate son of Mordecai Yamall, a Quaker preacher. I was amused
* General Thomas MiFrLiN.— He waa appointed Qoarter.ma8ter.Genenl bj
Wabhinoton, in 1775. Richard Henry Lee, in his reply to WAflHiNOTON*s letter
informingr him of this, says : — ** I think you could not possibly have appointed a
better man, to his present office than Mr. Mifflin. He is a singular man, and
you certainly will meet with the applause and support of all good men, by pro.
moting and countenancing real merit and public virtue, in opposition to all private
interests and partial affection.** He distinguished himself at the siege of fiostoa
by his coolness and intrepidity, and, at the age of 32, was appointed by Con-
gress, a Brigadier. In 1777 he was promoted to the rank of Major-GeneraL
In 1783, he was elected to Congress from Pennsylvania, his native state, and
presided, with ability and dignity, over the deliberations of that body. In 1785,
he was speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and subsequently, president of the
Supreme Executive Council. He had been a member of the convention which
framed the Constitution of the United States, and, in 1799, assisted as president
of the convention, in forming the new Constitution of the Slate. He was the first
Governor under this Constitution, and held the office for nine years, having been
thrice elected. As president of Congress, he received, at Annapolis, the resigna-
tion of General Washington, as Commander-in-chief, delivering on the occasion,
a brief, but eloquent address in reply to Uie speech of Washinoton. He died, at
Lancaster, on the 31 st of January, 1800, aged 56.— Ed.
CONNECTICUT UGHT H0B8E. 155
with his oddities, and sometimes listened to his imitations of his
father's manner of preaching, as well as that of many others of
the public friends. Though a temporary apostate from the prin-
ciples of his forefathers, in which he had been strictly brought
up, I never doubted that they had taken root in him; and that
if he was not prematurely cut off, they would vegetate and fruc-
tify in due season : nor was I mistaken. Many years after, I
saw him zealously sustaining his paternal vocation, surrounded
by a circle of friends. He had come to preach in the town in
which I redded: I went to hear him, and had the pleasure of
taking him home with me to dinner with several of his atten-
dants, where every thing passed with as much gravity and de-
corum, as if I had never seen him in any other character. Mr.
Yamall's former profaneness could not but have occurred to him
on this occasion ; but whatever might have been his recollec-
tions, he dissembled them admirably.
Among the military phenomena of this campaign, the Connec-
ticQt light horse ought not to be forgotten. These consisted of
a considerable number of old fashioned men» probably farmers
and heads of families, as they were generally middle aged, and
many of them apparently beyond the meridian of life. They
were truly irregulars; and whether their clothing, their equip-
ments or caparisons were regarded, it would have been difficult
to have discovered any circumstance of uniformity; though in
the features derived from '^ local habitation," they were one and
the same. Instead of carbines and sabres, they generally carried
fowling pieces; some of them very long, and such as in Pennsyl-
vania, are used for shooting ducks. Here and there, one, ^^ his
youthful garments, well saved," appeared in a dingy regimental
of scarlet, with a triangular, tarnished, laced hat. In short, so
little were they like modem soldiers, in air or costume, that,
dropping the necessary number of years, they might have been
supposed the identical men who had in part composed Pepperil's
army at the taking of Louisbourg. Their order of march corre-
sponded with their other irregularities. It *' spindled into longi-
tude immense," presenting so extended and ill-compacted a
flank, as though they had disdained the adventitious prowess
derived from concentration. These singular dragoons were vo«
156 CHA&ACTER OF THE AAMY.
lunteers, who came to make a tender of their services to the
Commander-in-chief. But they staid not long at New Yoik.
As such a body of cavalry had not been counted upon, there
was in all probability a want of forage for their jockf, which, in
the spirit of ancient knighthood, they absolutely refused to de-
scend from; and as the general had no use for cavaliers inhb
insular operations, they were forthwith dismissed with suitable
acknowledgments for their truly chivalrous ardour.* An un-
lucky trooper of this school had by some means or other, found
his way to Long Island, and was taken by the enemy in the bat-
tle of the 27th of August. The British officers made themselves
yeiy merry at his expense, and obliged him to amble about for
their entertabment. On being asked, what had been his duty
in the rebel army, he answered, that it was to flank a little and
carry tidings. Such at least was the story at New York among
the prisoners.
But notwithstanding the unwarlike guise of the troops from
New England, there was no part of the continent perhaps, in
which so little impression could be made, or in which the enemy
was so cautious of advancing. Their numbers and zeal ren-
dered them formidable when fighting on their own ground pro
aris etfocis; and pitiful as was the figure the eastern men made
this campaign, the defence of Bunker's hill was worthy of the
bravest veterans.f I attempt not to assign a cause for the falling
* It appears from a letter of GBmaAL WiJHMGTON, that they refiued fatigue
duty, becauie it wae beoeath the dignity of troopers.
t GENKaAL Washinotoit writes under date of 10th February, 1776, to Joseph
Reed : ■*The party sent to Bonker^s Hill had some good and some bad men en*
gaged in it One or two coorts have been held on the conduct of part of them.
To be plam, these people are not to be depended upon if exposed; and any'mas
will fight well if he thinks himself in no danger. I do not apply this only to these
people. I suppose it to be the case with all raw and undisciplined troops.***
8park$,yo\.ulp.985.
With no other motive than a love of justice, a protest must here be entered
against a judgment so severe as that expressed by our author in the text What
ever may have been the deficiencies of a portion of the New England troops in
equipment and discipline-deficiencies by no means peculiar to them^the coo*
rage, fortitude, and self sacrificing zeal with which the trials and difficulties of the
RevolutioQ were met, endured, and finally overcome, ought not to be quesHoned.
AU this is matter of historj. The coontiy that ooold fiimish rach •* exigeat
CHARACTEE OF THE ARMY. 157
off; and should even be fearful of recognising it, were there not
documents in existence, and hundreds yet alive to attest the
troth of my representations. I have in vain, endeavoured to ac-
count for the very few gentlemen and men of the world, that at
this time appeared in arms from this country, which might be
considered as the cradle of the revolution. There were some,
indeed, in the higher ranks ; and here and there a young man of
decent breeding, in the capacity of an aid-de-camp or brigade
major ; but any thing above the condition of a clown, in the
regiments we came in contact with, was truly a rarity. Was it,
that the cause was only popular among the yeomanry? Was it,
that men of fortune and condition there, as in other parts of the
continent, though evidently most interested in a contest, whose
object was to rescue American property from the grasp of British
avidity, were willing to devolve the fighting business on the
poorer and humbler classes ? Was it, in short, that they held
the language of the world, and said,
•"Let the gulVd fools the toils of war sobdue«
Where bleed the many to enrich the few?"
Or was it, that that simple way of thinking and ill appreciation
of military talent, which had made a drivelling deacon,* second
men ** as Prescott, Warrkn, Grkknv, Knox, Pdtnam, Lincoln, Stark, and Saixi.
?AN ; an Adams, a Hancock, an Otis and a QamcT, cannot be supposed to be defi-
cient in enlightened patriotic zeal, or in men with '* hearts to do and dare,** all that
brave and patriotic men may do and dare, in defence of their liberties and rights;
and the page of History glows with the story of their services, sufferings and
worth.— Ed.
* This was General Ward,* with whose resignation and that of Brigadier Frye,
GxNKRAL Washington makes himself merry in a letter to General Lee, published
in the Memoirs of the latter. So little does the character of the time appear to
be known at present, that I deem it necessary to fortify my remarks.
• Gbteral Artkhab Ward.— He had been appointed, by the Provincial Con-
gress of Massachusetts, commander of all the forces raised by that Colony. He
was the first Major-General in the American army. He graduated at Harvard,
in 1748. ^ For several years he was an active and useful member of the General
Coart, and, in 1774, one of the Provincial Congress. He served in the war pre-
vioQs to the peace of Paris, and when the Revolutionary struggle commenced,
was appointed Major-Gcneratf and was even thought of as Generalissimo.
14
158 GENERALS WAED AND FBYE.
Id command, was then prevalent among them ? Whatever was
the reason. New England was far behind the other provinces in
the display of an ardent, unequivocal zeal for the cause, in the
quality of her officers ; and notwithstanding that she has ance
shown herself more prolific of liberal, well-informed, exigent
men, than any other part of the union, her soldieiy, at the time I
am speaking of, was contemptible in the extreme.
Neither did the fighting department appear to be fashionable
among the gentry of Virginia. It must be admitted that she
furnished some gentlemen aids^de-camp and volunteers, and
afterwards, corps of cavalry, respectably officered; but the seri-
ous, drudging business of war, devolves on the infantry; and in
this description of force, she evinced but little brilliancy. One
of her regiments, I recollect, did duty with us when we were
encamped on Haerlem heights. Its commander had the ap-
pearance of a reputable planter, and might for any thing I know
to the contrary, have been both patriotic and brave ; but neither
himself nor his officers, were of the kind that bespoke the elite of
their country : they were not in the style of their vocation ; in a
word, they were not Baylors, nor Griffins, nor Lees, nor Mon-
roes. But allowing every possible merit to these gentlemen, it
does not lessen the force of my observation in respect to their
State, of whose subsequent exertions, I am ignorant
He commanded the troops at Cambridge until the arrival of Washinoton, when
he was placed at the head of the right wing at Rozbary. His firmness and in-
trepidity were strikingly displayed on various trying occasions. He resigned his
commission in April, 1776, though at the request of WAseuraTON he continued
for some time longer in command. He was afterwards chosen one of the Council
of Massachusetts, where he was distinguished for his integrity and independence
of spirit. He was elected to Congress on the organisation of the Greneral Grovem-
inent, and died late in the year 1800, at the age of seventy-three.^ — Ene. Amer.-^
E».
BaxoADiKV-GiunERAL Joseph Frte. — Washington writes concerning him to
Congress, Slst August, 1775: — ** He entered into the service as early as 1745,
and rose through the different military ranks, in the two succeeding wars, to that
of Colonel. From these circumstances, together with the favourable report ooade
to me of him, I presume he sustained the character of a good officer, though I do
not find it distinguished by any peculiar service.** Colonel Frye received from
Congress the appointment of Brigadier-General in the Continental army, opoo
the recommendation of the Commander-in-chief.
He resigned his commission in April, 1776< — Es.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 159
Among the mistakes of my life, in a view to advancement, I
maj justly reckon my not essaying the aid-de-camp career. To
the rank and pay of major, which followed the appointment, an
exemption from hard duty immediately took place, and the for-
tunate incumbents had cause to hug themselves in a world of
other pleasant consequences. They, comparatively, fed well and
slept well; used horses legs instead of their own, upon a march;
and were, besides, in the true road to preferment. The late Ge-
neral Walter Stewart,* was a younger Captain than myself, in the
same regiment. But he chose the better path I allude to : in
doing so he escaped captivity, was warmly recommended to
Congress by his General, and complimented with a regiment,
while his elder officers were languishing in captivity, neglected,
superseded and forgotten. Captain Scull, also, of our regiment,
had attached himself to General Thomson ; and the Colonels fear-
ing they should lose more of us, were assiduous in representing
the employment of an aid, as not only unworthy of a man of
spirit, but as being out of the line of promotion: In the latter, at
least, they were egregiously mistaken.
The Declaration of Independence,! whose date will never be
* Honourable mention is made ^of Colonel Walter Stewart by General Wasb-
iNOTON in his letter of 13th January, 1780, to Lord Sterlinjr. Colonel Stewart
rendered valaable lervices at the time of the revolt in the Pennsylvania line,
which were recognised by Washington and Wayne. — Ed.
t The Declarajtion of Independence was read, in public, by Commodore Hop-
kins, from "the platform of an Obserratory which had been erected by Ritten-
house, at the rear of the State House. But few people assembled to hear it, and
among these there were no manifestations of enthusiasm. They quietly retired
at its conclusion. It was above the comprehension of the mass. The principles
upon which it was based, and the language of the Declaration itself, were not
immediately appreciated and understood. Another proof of what has been else-
where asserted in these 'Memoirs* — that the 'Revolution is universally admitted
to have begun in the upper circles of society.* The apathy, timidity, or igno-
rance, thus manifested at its birth-place was not imitated elsewhere, and whatever
may have been the reception of the great intelligence by the army— among the
people, and nowhere more warmly than at Boston, the news was received, ac-
cording to BoTTA, * with transports of joy.' Nor were any of those public demon-
strations omitted which governments are accustomed to employ, on similar
occaaions, to conciliate the favour of the people. The artillery was fired, bonfires
were kindled, the people seemed actually delirious with exultation. On the 11th
of July, the manifesto of Congress was published in New York, and was read to
each brigade of the American army, which, at that time, wa« assembled in the
160 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
forgotten so long as Liberty remains the fashion, and demagogues
continue to thrive upon it, was, with the utmost speed, trans-
mitted to the armies; and when received, read to the respective
regiments. If it was not embraced with all the enthusiasm that
has been ascribed to the event, it was at least hailed with accla-
mations, as no doubt any other act of Congress, not flagrantly
improper, would at that time have been. The propriety of the
measure had been little canvassed among us; and perhaps it was
to our honour^ considered merely as soldiers, that we were so
little of politicians. A predilection for republicanism, it is true,
had not reached the army, at least the Pennsylvania line ; but as
an attempt to negotiate in our unorganized situation, would pro-
bably have divided and ruined us, the step was considered wise,
although a passage of the Rubicon, and calculated to close the
door to accommodation. Being looked upon as unavoidable, if
resistance was to be persisted in, it was approved; and produced
vicinity of the city : it was received witli universal acclamation. The same
evening the statue of George II I^ which had been erected in 1770, was takes
down and dragged through the streets. It was decided that the lead of which it
was composed, should be converted into musket balls. These excesses, however
blameable in themselves, were not without utility if considered politically; tbey
excited the people and hurried them on to the object that was desired. At Balti-
more. Independence having been proclaimed in the presence of cannoniers and
militia, the people could not contain their enthusiasm. The air resounded with
salutes of artillery, snd the shouts that hailed the freedom and happiness of Uie
United States of America, The effigy of the King became the sport of the popu-
lace, and was afler wards burnt in the public square. The rejoicings at Boston
were the greatest of all. Independence was there proclaimed from the balcony
of the State House, in the presence of all the authorities, civil and military, and
of an immense concourse of people, as well from the city itself as from the couo-
try. The garrison was drawn up in order of battle in King street, which from
that moment took the name of State street; the troops formed in thirteen
detachments, to denote the thirteen United States. At a given signal, a salute of
thirteen cannon was fired upon Fort Hill, which was immediately answered by
an equal number from the batteries of the Castle, of the Neck, of ]^antasket, and
qf Point Alderton. The garrison, in their turn, fired thirteen salutes of musketry,
each detachment firing in succession. The authorities and most considerable
inhabitants then convened at a banquet prepared in the Council Chamber. All
the bells ruAg in token of felicitation ; the joy was universal, and its demonstra-
tions wero incessantly renewed. In the evening all the ensigns of royalty,
lions, sceptres or crowns, whether sculptured or painted, were torn in pieces and
burned." — Ed.
STATUE OF GEORGE III. DEMOUSBED. 161
no resignations among the officers tbat I am aware of, except that of
Lieutenant-Colonel William Allen, already mentioned, who was
with his regiment in Canada. He called at our camp on his way
to Philadelphia, where he appeared somewhat surprised and mor-
tified that his example had no followers.
Being now independent, we had no farther use for a king, or
even the semblance of one ; for which reason the equestrian sta-
tue of George the Third, in New York, was thrown down and
demolished. The head of the King was cut off by way of in-
flaming the public valour : but so little was the spirit of seventy-
six like the spirit of subsequent eras, that the act was received
with extreme coldness and indifference. Had even George him-
self been among us, he would have been in no great danger of
personal injury, at least from the army. We were, indeed, begin-
ning to grow angry with him ; and were not displeased with
Paine for calling him a royal brute^ but we had not yet acquired
the true taste for cutting throats.
The suspense in which we had for many weeks been held, in
respect to the meditated operations of the enemy, was at length
removed by the landing of a considerable force on the 22d of
August, on Long Island. Among the measures taken to counter-
act him, hand-biUs, addressed to the Grerman troops, inviting de-
sertion by a promise of land, were prepared by Congress, and
endeavoured to be circulated among them. For this business,
Christopher Ludwig, a baker of Hiiladelphia, was, among others,
selected. As he was a German, and had been a soldier in his
younger days, he was supposed to be peculiarly fitted for the
purpose. Full of zeal for the cause, he was already at his post,
and was bold enough to undertake the perilous employment ; but
whether he ventured himself in the enemy's camp, I never learned^
I rather suspect he was shy, as he well knew the penalty of
detection in such an enterprize. At any rate, the overtures had
no eflect : no deserters came over to us. This Ludwig, though
far advanced in years, could yet play the old soldier with much
address, and thence contrived to make himself conspicuous. Be-
ing employed some time after to manage the ovens, he assumed
the title of Bakermaster-General of the army, and made a vow
never to shave his beard until a fortunate conclusion of the con-
14*
162 BAKER-GENERAL — THE BRITISH LAND ON LONG ISLAND.
test.* It is a little remarkable, that the patriotism of the Baker-
General should have displayed itself in the same manner as that
of Cato did, during the civil war of Rome, who, as we are in-
formed by Lucan, neither shaved, nor cut his hair.
** Ut primam toUi feralia viderat anna,
IntonsoB rigidain in frontem descendere canos
FassuB erat, mcestamque genis increBCere barbanii
For when he saw the fatal faction's arm,
The coming war, and Rome*8 impending hann ;
Regardless quite of every other care»
Unshorn he left his loose neglected hair.
Rude hung the hoary honours of his head,
And a foul growth his mournful cheeks o^rspread.**
The forces of the enemy, which had been landed on Long
Island, had extended themselves as far as Flatbush and New Lots>
between which places and our works at Brooklyn, runs a ridge
of pretty lofty hills. Here it was, that being met by our troops
under the command of Generals Sullivan and Stirling, the action
of the 27th of August commenced; of which, as I was not pre-
* Mr. Graydon, on a leaf of his private copy of the Memoirs, wrote, " a gen-
ileman corrects me, and says, it was not until a conclusion of the war, but ontil
we regained possession of Philadelphia. Be it so.**
Christopher Luowick — the ** B^er-Oeneral ^ — ^lies conspicuously buried in
the grave yard of St Michaers (Lutheran) Cburch, at the upper end of German-
town. From his monument we learn that be was bora in Germany, where he
learned his ** trade and business of Baker. In early life he was a soldier and
a sailor, and visited the East and West Indies. He came to Philadelphia in
1755, and by industry and integrity aecumulated a handsome property, part of
which he devoted to the service of his adopted country, in the contest for Inde.
pendence. Was appointed Baker-Gcneral to the Army, and, for faithful services*
received a written testimony from the Commander-in-chiefl On every occasion
his zeal for the relief of the oppressed was manifest, and by his last wiU he
bequeathed the greater part of his estate for the education of the poor, of all de-
nominations, gratis. He lived and died respected for his integrity and public
spirit. Reader, such was Ludwick. Art thou poor? venerate his Character.
Art thou rich 7 imitate his Example.**
Mr. Ludwick died in 1801, aged nearly 81 years. — In his humble sphere he
rendered faithful service in the cause of Independence ; services which entitle
him to grateful remembrance, and more than justify a passing tribute to his
paUiotism aud wQrth,-^Ci>,
NEW YORK — PRIVATIONS OF SOLDIERS. 163
sent, I know nothing more than is given in the historical accounts
of this affair. The manifest superiority of the enemy on this oc-
casion, owing more to mismanagement, perhaps, on our side, than
want of bravery in the troops engaged, rendered it expedient to
draw our forces to the point that had been chosen for the contest ;
and an express was accordingly sent off, requiring the immediate
march of Shee's and Magaw's regiments to New York. Being
forthwith put in motion, we proceeded with the utmost speed,
and reached the city in the afternoon ; but by this time the con-
flict was over, and the firing had ceased. Here, therefore, we
were quartered for the night, under orders to be in readiness to
cross the East river by break of day in the morning. Glover's
regiment was also moved to this place, and was under similar
orders for Long Island. Few particulars of the day's combat
were yet known, though it was pretty well ascertained that we
had been handled severely, and lost a considerable number of
officers and men ; but what proportion had been killed, or were
prisoners, was merely conjecture. New York was, at this time,
a scene of tumult and cpnfusion, and, it might be added, of dis-
may.
The circumstances, however, did not deprive me of my appe-
tite, and the inclination for a good supper, which I had not for
some months enjoyed ; and therefore, as soon as our men were
dismissed to their quarters, which was not until dark, Mr. Forrest
and myself, set out in pursuit of this object. But some of the
public houses were full, others had no eatables in them, and we
began to fear, that this little enjoyment we had promised our-
selves, was not to be obtained ; and that we should be obliged to
go to bed supperless. After trying the best looking inns to no
purpose, we essayed those of more humble appearance, and at
length entered one, that was kept by a midcHe-aged, matronly
lady. We asked if she could give us supper ; she gave us the com-
mon answer, that there was nothing in the house. We were now
about to give the matter up, and had retired beyond the door,
with somewhat of a disconsolate air, perhaps, when the good
woman seemed touched with compassion for us. She had pro-
bably sons of her own ; or if not, she was of that sex which,
Ledyard tells us, is ever prone to acts of kindness and humanity.
164 NEW YOBK — ^PRIVATIONS OF 80LDIEB8.
She called us back and told us, that she believed she could make
out to give us a lobster. At this we brightened up, assuring her,
as we really thought, that nothing could be better : and being
shown into a small, snug apartment, we called for a pint of
wine. We now thou^t ourselves, instead of outcasts, favourites
of fortune, as upon comparing notes with our brother officers,
next day, we found we had reason, since scarcely one of them
had been able to procure a mouthful. Our lobster being quickly
served up, we fell to with most excellent appetites, and between
it and our wine entirely forgot our toils, most fervently realizing
the sentiment of the song, that ^^ a bottle and kind landlady cure
all again.^^
On the next day, early in the forenoon^ we were transported to
Long Island ; marched down to the entrenchments at Brooklyn,
and posted on their left extremity, extending to the Wallabout.
The arrival of our two battalions, (Shee's and Magaw's, which
always acted together,) with that of Glover, had the eflect, I have
always found to be produced, by a body of men under arms,
having the appearance of discipline. Akhou^, owing to the
dysentery which had prevailed in our camp^ our number was so
reduced, that the two regiments could not have amounted to
more than eight hundred men, making in the whole, when joined
with Glover^s, about twelve or thirteen hundred ; yet it was evident
that this small reinforcement, inspired no inconsiderable degree of
confidence. The faces that had been saddened by the disasters
of yesterday, assumed a gleam of animation, on our approach ;
accompanied with a murmur of approbation in the spectators oc-
casionally greeting each other with the remark, that ^^ these were
the lads that might do something.^^ Why it should be so, I know
not, but the mind instinctively attaches an idea of prowess, to
the silence, steadiness, and regularity of a militaiy assemblage ;
and a hundred well dressed, well armed, and well disciplined
grenadiers, are more formidable in appearance, than a £sjointed,
disorderly multitude of a thousand. Our regiments, to be sure^
could not arrogate such perfection ; but that they were distin-
guished in our young army, may be inferred, iGrom an official let-
ter from General Washington, wherein he states, that ^^they had
been trained with more thau common attention." To sustain
LONG ISLAND — ^ENT&ENCHMENTS. 165
the duty now imposed upon us, required both strength of body
and of mind. The spot at which we were posted, was low
and unfavourable for defence. There was a /raised ditch in its
front, but it gave little promise of security, as it was evidently
commanded by the ground occupied by the enemy, who entirely
enclosed the whole of our position, at the distance of but a few
hundred paces. It was evident, also, that they were constructed
batteries, which would have rendered our particular situation ex-
tremely ineligible, to say the least of it. In addition to this dis-
comfort, we were annoyed by a continual rain, which, though
never very heavy, was never less than a searching drizzle, and
often what might, with propriety, be called a smart shower. We
had no tents to screen us from its pitiless pelting; nor, if we had
had them, would it have comported with the incessant vigilance
required, to have availed ourselves of them, as, in fact, it might
be said, that we lay upon our arms during the whole of our stay
upon the island.* In the article of food, we were little better off.
We had indeed, drawn provisions, whose quality was not to be
complained of. Our pickled pork, at least, was good ; but how
were we to cook it. As this could not be done, it was either to
be eaten as it was, or not eaten at all; and we found upon trial,
that boiling it, although desirable, was not absolutely necessary ;
and that the article was esculent without culinary preparation. I
remember, however, on one of the days we were in this joyless
place, getting a slice of a barbacued pig, which some of our
soldiers had dressed at a deserted house which bounded our lines.
There was an incessant skirmishing kept up in the day-time
between our riflemen and the enemy's irregulars; and the firing
• Had not this work been written a few years too early, I might have scienti-
ficaUy talked of our bivouacking; but like the man who had been all his life
talking prose without knowing it, we, poor ignorants ! — had been bxvauacking
here two nights without being sensible that we were in the performance of a
grand operation, become grand at least, from the raking up, and applying to it
of an old obsolete French word, by the great Napoleon ; and which all military men
since, are ambitious of being engaged in, for the sake of employing in despatches
and private letters, tliis new and fascinating phrase. Even Sir Walter Scott re-
solved not to be behind them in fashionable graces, — tells us in his Waterloo.
**That line so black
And trampled, marks the bivouack.**
166 SKIBMISHING A BATTLE APPREHENDED.
was sometimes so brisk, as to indicate an approaching general
engagement. This was judiciously enconraged by General
Washington, as it tended to restore confidence to our men, and
was, besides, showing a good countenance to the foe.
On the morning after our first night's watch, Colonel Sbee
took me aside, and asked me what I thought of oar situation. I
could not but say, I thought it a very discouraging one. He
viewed it in the same light, he said, and added, that if we were
not soon withdrawn from it, we should inevitably be cut to
pieces. So impressed was he with this conviction, that he de-
sired me to go to the quarters of General Reed, and to request
him to ride down to the lines, that he might urge him to propose
a retreat without loss of time. I went, but could not find him
at his quarters, or at any of the other places where it was likely
he might be. It was not long, however, before he came to our
station, and gave the Colonel an opportunity of conferring with
him. This day passed ofi'like the last, in unabating skirmishing
and rain. AAer dark, orders were received and communicated
to us regimentally, to hold ourselves in readiness for an attack
upon the enemy; to take place in the course of the night. This
excited much speculation among the officers, by whom it was
considered a truly daring undertaking, rendered doubly so from
the bad condition of our arms, so long exposed to the rain : and
although we had bayonets, this was not the case with the whole
of our force, upon whom we must depend for support. It was
not for us, however, to object to the measure: we were soldiers,
and bound to obey. Several nuncupative wills were made upon
the occasion, uncertain as it was, whether the persons to whom
they were communicated would survive, either to prove or to
execute them. I was for a while under the impression that we
were to fight; and, in the language of the poet, was '^ stiffening
my sinews and summoning up my blood," for what, with the
rest, I deemed a desperate encounter. But when I came to con-
sider the extreme rashness of such an attempt, it suddenly flashed
upon my mind, that a retreat was the object ; and that the order
for assailing the enemy, was but a cover to the real design. The
more I reflected upon it, the more I was convinced that I was
right ; and what had passed in the morning with Colonel Shee,
MIDNIGHT SCENE IN CAMP. 167
serred to confirm me in my opinion. I communicated my con-
jecture to some of the officers, but they dared not sufier them-
selres to believe it well founded, though they gradually came
over to my opinion ; and by midnight, they were, for the most
part, converts to it. There was a deep murmur in the camp
which indicated some movement ; and the direction of the decay-
ing sounds, was evidently towards the river. About two o'clock,
a cannon went off, apparently from one of our redoubts, " piercing
the night's dull ear," with a tremendous roar. If the explosion
was within our lines, the gun was probably discharged in the act of
spikingit; and itcould have been no less a matter of speculation to
the enemy, than to ourselves. I never heard the cause of it ; but
whatever it was, the effect was at once alarming and sublime ;
and what with the greatness of the stake, the darkness of the
nighty the uncertainty of the design, and extreme hazard of the
issue whatever might be the object, it would be difficult to con<-
ceive a more deeply solemn and interesting scene. It never re-
curs to my mind, but in the strong imagery of the chorus of
Shakspeare's Henry the Vth, in which is arrayed, in appropriate
gloom, a similar interval of dread suspense and awful expecta-
tion. •
As our regiment was one of those appointed to cover the retreat,
we were, of course, among the last to be drawn off, and it was
near day-break before we received orders to retire. We were
formed without delay, and had marched near half way to the river,
when it was announced that the British light horse were at our
heels. Improbable as was the circumstance, it was yet so strenu-
ously insisted upon, that we were halted and formed, the front
rank kneeling with presented pikes, which we had with us, to
receive the charge of the supposed assailants. None, however,
appeared ; and the alarm must have proceeded from the fear of
those who gave it, magnifying the noise of a few of our own horse-
men into that of squadrons of the enemy. We again took up the
line of march, and had proceeded but a short distance, when the
head of the battalion was halted a second time. The orders we
had received were erroneous : We were informed that we had
come off too soon, and were commanded with all expedition to
168 R£TB£AT TO NEW YOBK.
return to our post.* This was a trying business to young soldiers ;
it was, nevertheless strictly complied with, and we remained not
less than an hour in the lines before we received the second order
to abandon them.f It may be supposed we did not linger; but
though we moved with celerity, we guarded against confusion,
and under the friendly cover of a thick fog, reached the place of
embarkation without annoyance fit)m the enemy, who, had the
morning been clear, would have seen what was going on, and
been enabled to cut off the greater part of the rear. One of my
soldiers being too feeble to carry his musket, which was too pre-
cious to be thrown away, I took it from him, and found myself
able to carry it, together with my own fusee. On attaining the
water, I found a boat prepared for my company, which immedi-
ately embarked, and taking the helm myself, I so luckily directed
the prow, no object being discernible in the fog, that we touched
near the centre of the city. It was between six and seven o'clock,
perhaps later, when we landed at New York ; and in less than an
hour after, the fog having dispersed, the enemy was visible on the
shore we had left.
Next to the merit of avoiding a scrape in war, is that of a dex-
terous extrication from it; and in this view, the removal of so
* This is stated in Gordon's history, voL 2, page 103, to have been owio; to a
nustake of Colonel Scammell, who delivered the orders to General Mifflin to bring
off the whole covering party, instead of a particular regiment
t This circumstance is noted by General Heath in his Memoirs : — "^ In this
retreat from the Island, and which was well conducted, an instance of discipline
and of true fortitude was exhibited by the American guards and pickets. In
order that the British should not get knowledge of the withdrawal of the Ameri-
cans, until their main body had embarked in the boats and pushed off from the
shore, (a matter of the highest importance to their safety^ the guards were
ordered to continue at their respective posts, with sentinels alert, as if nothing
extraordinary was taking place, until the troops had embarked: they were then
to come oSt march briskly to the ferry, and embark themselves. But the guard
came off, and had nearly reached the landing-place, when they were ordered to
face about, march back, and re-occupy their former posts ; which they instantly
obeyed, and continued at them, until called off to cross the ferry. Whoever has
seen troops in a similar situation, or duly contemplates the human heart in such
trials, well know how to appreciate the condnct of these brave men, on this occa-
•ion."— Ed.
REFLECTIONS ON THE MCASUEE. 169
great a number of men, stated I think at nine thousand, with can-
non and stores, in one night, was, no doubt, a masterly move-
ment, though not classible perhaps with the great retreats. The
Memoirs of the Duke of Sully relate an operation very similar to
it, and to which much applause is given. This was achieved by
the Prince of Parma, whose army, lying between Rouen and
Caudebec, was in the night transported across the Seine, and thus
preserved from the destruction that impended from the forces of
Henry the IVth, ready to fall upon it in the morning. " Could it
appear otherwise," observes the writer, "than a fable or an illu-
sion ? Scarce could the king and his army trust the evidence of
their own eyes."
After a comfortable breakfast, which I got at the cofTee-house,
I met with Colonel Melchior of the commissary department*
Being one of my old and particular Philadelphia acquaintances,
he offered me his bed to repair my want of rest* I had not slept
for two nights ; and as my brother, a lad of about nineteen and
an ensign in the regiment, had undergone the same fatigue, I took
him along with me, and locking the door of the apartment to ex-
clude intruders, we snatched a refreshing nap of five or six hours:
after which, we felt ourselves alert and ready fot the farther tasks
which duty might impose.
General Washington has been censured for risking his army
upon Long Island, and General Howe for permitting it to escape
with impunity.* Reasoning from the facts which have evolved,
the blame in both cases, seems to be well founded. But this is not
the mode of judging contingent events. In conducting the war
on our side, a great variety of interests was to be consulted. Our
* Spabks ascribei the unfortunate issue of the fiattio of hong Island^ ^ to the
illness of General GaBKNib He had superintended the erection of the military
works, and become thoroughly acquainted with the groiinds. In the hope of his
recovery, Washington deferred sending over a successor, till the urgency of
affairs made it absolutely necessary ; and then General Pdtnam took the com.
mand, without any previous knowledge of the posts which had been fortified be-
yond the lines, or of the places by which the enemy would make their approach;
nor had he time to acquire this knowledge before the action. The consequenos
was, that although he Was the commauder on the day of the battle, he never went
beyond the lines at Brooklyn, and Could give no other orders than for sending out
troops to meet the enemy at different points." — £d.
15
170 WASHINGTON VINDICATED.
cities, were, if possible to be maintained, and no property to be
sacrificed without the most n^nifest necessity, lest it might create
disgust and disaffection. Congress, also, was to be obeyed; in
which body, no doubt, there was enough of local feeling. Hence,
New York must be defended ; and if so, there was nothing wrong in
risking an action on Long Island ; it was even better than awaiting
it in the city. Add to this, that the combatants had not yet
measured arms with each other; and Greneral Washington was
not without ground for hope, that his troops would prove equal
to the invaders. He knew the British were not invincible. He
had even seen them panic struck under Braddock and Dunbar,
and was aware of their having been staggered by a handful of
irregulars at Bunker's hill. But it is sufficient for his exculpation,
that the necessity of attemptmg the defence of NewYoik, was too
imperious to be dispensed with. Otherwise, there can be no
question, that with the unpromising army he commanded, he
should have been extremely cautious of committing himself in
insular posts. No General will, of choice, convert his army into a
garrison, and invite a siege. Had this been done at New Yoit,
General Howe, by blockading it, would soon have reduced us to
the necessity of starving, surrendering, or fighting our way out
again ; a few batteries and redoubts do not render a place capable
of sustaining a siege, or had he preferred an assault, what fordfi-
cations were there to justify the assertion, that it was tenable for
a single ds^ ?
As to General Howe, I have scarce a doubt that he might have
carried the entrenchments at Brooklyn, and cut off the troops
posted there. Even without intercepting with his ships of war,
the passage of East river, the retreat across it would have been
sufficiently difficult and tardy, to have rendered the loss of much
the greater portion of our army inevitable. That the works would
have been well defended and cost him a great many men, can
neither be affirmed nor denied. The feelings of raw troops are
too uncertain to be calculated upon ; and considering what had
recently happened, it is rather to be presumed, that the defence
would not have been obstinate. But General Howe, it should be
remembered, was yet a stranger to our circumstances and the
character of our force. Though he had just vanquished a part of
GENERAL HOWE — CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH. 171
it in the open field, the remainder was behind entrenchments, sup-
ported by redoubts ; and he had cause for being cautious from
what had happened at Bunker's hill. Besides, he probably
reasoned as we at first did, that our losses might be more easily
supplied than his own ; and, from the boldness of Congress in
declaring independence in defiance of the concentrated power of
Britain, he had certainly grounds to conclude, that their resources
were great and their army extremely numerous. In addition to
these considerations, he had no reason to calculate on our pre-
cipitate retreat. He was preparing to attack us under the cover
of batteries; and, in that case, might have been enabled to destroy
the rear of our force with little loss to himself. It must, however,
be admitted, that the character of Sir William's Generalship rather
savoured of caution than enterprise.
172 AMEHICAKS ABANDON ITEW TOBK.
CHAPTER Vn.
AmertotxM atniHloD New York.— Take poet at Fort Waahinpton.— Gbancler of
Qfficera.— Fire in New York.--Futiiaiii.-^Greene.— Promotioiia.^Fort Waak-
ington threatened. — Siunmooed by General Howe. — Americana attacked and
retire. — Account of the Engagement
On the thirty-first of August, the day after the retreat from
Long Island, we marched beyond King's-bridge towards the
Sound, and crossing the Brunx, encamped about eighteen or
or twenty miles from the city of New York. I say encamped,
though, in fact we had no canopy but the sky, and nothing be-
tween our bodies and the earth, but the clothes we had on, and
the blanket which each of us carried along with him. We might,
however, have lodged comfortably on the green sward, had not
the imaginations of some of our party been still haunted by light
horse ; an alarm having been given in the ntght, whether in jest
or earnest, I cannot say, that they had assailed us again. But
it turned out to be nothing more than the scampering of a few
colts, that were probably equally alarmed at seeing so many two->
legged intruders extended on their feeding grounds.
My memory does not enable me to say how long we remained
at this place ; but I recollect we were soon joined by a portion
of the army, among which was the regiment of Hazlet from De«
laware. When the post was sufficiently strengthened to observe
the motions of the enemy hovering in the Sound, and threaten^
ing the country about Frogs-point, we retook our old ground at
Fort Washington. While here, we acted in detachment at Mor-
risania, then menaced by a body of the British, which had been
thrown into Buchanan's and Montresors islands, lying in the
mouth of Haerlem river, within two hundred or a hundred and
fifty yards of the main land. I recollect, at lea^t, that their seun
TAKE POST AT FORT WASHINGTON. 173
tinels appeared to be within gun-shot,* and that, one day, I had
considerable difficulty in restraining Captain Miller of Magaw's
regiment, who carried a rifle, from shooting one of them, which
he had no doubt he could do. This was a kind of warfare
which appeared to me both cruel and useless ; and I reprobated it
80 earnestly, that for this time, I turned Miller from his purpose.
Bat the carrying a rifle, is too apt to create an appetite for the
savage mode of warfare which does its work in concealment ;
and makes a merit of destroying the enemy whenever and where-
ever he may be found.
At the time of these movements, the main army very iropro*^
perly still lingered at New York. There cannot remain a doubt,
that this city should have been evacuated, as soon as possible,
after the quitting of Long Island. This was as obvious to me
then as it is now, and I had backed my opinion with the bet of
a beaver hat, that there would be no attempt to defend it. It
* GcNKEAX. HsATH statct that " the chain of sentinels within half gun-shot of
each other, were planted from one side of the shore to the other, and near the
water panage between Morrisania and Montresors Island^ which in some
places is very narrow. The sentinels on the America9 side were ordered not to.
fire at those of the British, unless the latter began ; bat the British were so fond
of beginning', that there was frequently a firing between them. This having been
the case one day, and a British officer walking along tho bank on the Montresors
side, an American senthiel, who had been exchanging some shots with a British
■entinel, seeing the officer, and concluding him to be better game, gave him a shot
and wounded him. He was carried up to the hoo.se on the island. An officer
with a flag soon came down to the creek, and called for the American officer of
the picket, and informed him, that if the American sentinels fired any more, tho
commanding officer on the island would cannonade Ck>lonel Morris' house in
which the officers of the picket were quartered. Tho Ameriean officer iixunedi.
ately sent to our General to inquire what asswer should be returned. He was
directed to inform the British officer, that the American sentinels had always
been instructed not to fire on sentineU, unless they were 6rst Bred upon, and
then to retam the fire ; that soch would be their conduct : as to the cannonading
of Colonel Morris' house, they might act their pleasure. The firing ceased for
some time, but a raw Scotch sentinel, having been planted one day, he very soon
after discharged his piece at an American sentinel, nearest to him, which was
immediately returned. This brought down a British officer, who, calling to the
American officers, observed, that * he thought there was to be no firing between
sentinels.' He was answered that their own began. * He shall then pay for it.'
The sentinel was directly afler relieved, and the firing ceased, the sentinels be-
coming so civil to each other, as to supply each other with tobacco by throwing it
acroM the stream." — Ed.
15*
174 NEW YORK ABANDONED.
appears from documents since published, that it was the opinion
of the Commander-in-chief, that it should be abandoned, as well
as of other officers in whom he principally confided^ though not
of the majority of the council of war. Not long after, however,
the propriety of the measure became so apparent, that it was uni-
versally concuired in, and the place was given up, though not
without a considerable loss of stores. Previously to this opera-
tion, our numbers had been much reduced by the desertion of
great bodies of the militia, and some of the other troops that had
been infected by their bad example, as appears from the letters
of the General. A greater loss than themselves, was that of the
arms and ammunition they took away with them. I very well
recollect,, that it was found necessary to post a guard at KingV
bridge to stop the fugitives ; and that upon one of them being
arrested with a number of notums in a bag, there was found
among them, a cannon ball, which, he said, he was taking home
to his mother for the purpose of pounding mustard. Such was
the story ; and though I was not a witness of the fact, I can
vouch for its being entirely in character. An instance of shame-
ful cowardice was also given by Parson's and Fellow's brigades
(in which, their Generals, however, were not implicated) as men-
tioned in an official letter of the 16th of September : on this oc-
casion I have understood that the General lost all patience,
throwing his hat upon the ground in a transport of rage and in-
dignation.* A day or two aRer this dastardly affair, better
conduct was shown by some companies of Colonel Weedon's
regiment from Virginia, and some rangers composed of volun-
teers from different New England regiments under the command
of Major Leitch and Colonel Knolton, both of whom were mor-
tally wounded.
The army now took a position upon the high grounds sur-
rounding Fort Washington, comprehending the heights of Haer-
• According to General Hkath, fhki wa»»n the 15th of September. He says,
*• Here tlie Americans, we are sorry to say, did not behave well ; and here it was
as fame hath said ; that Gbnkral Washington threw his hat on the ground, ex-
claiming 'are these the men with which I am to defend America !* Bat several
things may have weight here;— the wounds received on Long Island were yet
bleeding ; ; nd the officers, if not the men, knew that the city was not to be de-
(ended;'— Eo.
FORT WASHINGTON. 176
lem and the difficult pass towards King's-bridge. A double row
of lines was thrown up, nearly extending from Haerlem river to
the Hudson, on the south, looking towards New York, of which
General Howe was now in possession. General Washington
appears to have had a good opinion of this post : but though
certainly strong by nature and improved by ^itrenchments in its
most accessible parts, its eligibility, for any other purpose, than
that of a temporary encampment, was very questionable. It was
liable to the same objection, as the posts of Brooklyn and New
York. It was only open to the country on the side of King's*
bridge; and consequently, the slightest demonstrations of the
adversary, in that quarter, must have induced its abandonment,
unless we should have been disposed for an encounter of similar
difficulties to those, from which we were just extricated, and
again trying the fortune of an escape across a river under the
very paws of the enemy. But the idea, about this time, seems
to have been taken up of making our resistance, a war of posts;
or of disputing inch by inch, our ground. This sort of war, how-
ever, when referring to the operations of a weaker army, in a
country without regular fortresses, appears to be scarcely practi-
cable, unless it should have the good fortune to be protected by
a succession of Thermopyles. There are few posts which may
not be turned and blockaded by a superior force ; and the expe-
rience of a campaign is sufficient to evince the fallacy of sup-
posing a position to be good merely because its approaches are
difficult.* The impropriety of remaining in the present one, was
immediately perceived by Lee, who joined us about the middle
of October. He declared at once against the policy of having
any thing to do with the islands, about which we ha I been
clinging so pertinaciously ; and with a figure somewhat too bold
for the genius of our patriotism, exclaimed, that <'he would give
Mr. Howe a/ee^simple in them."
* This opinion is corroborated by General Sarrazin*8 observationii in his His-
tory of the War in Runia and Germany, on the post of Borodino, tending to show
the facility of manceuvring Kutnsoff oat of it, and, of course, the impropriety of
attacking such posts, if strong, since the holders of them may always be forced
to abandon. To prove the justice of his assertion, he quotes Kutusoff^s letter to
the Emperor Alexander.
176 BRITISH ADVANCE — AMERICAN TACTICS.
But before we permit ourselves to arraign the conduct of the
Commander-in-chief, we ought to obtain a clear idea, of what
his operations should have been. Because, inferior to the foe,
was he, therefore, to have kept at an awful distance from him?
Would this have satisfied the country, or promoted the cause it
bad in hand ? It had been buoyed up into an exalted opinion
of its prowess ; and thence expected fighting, if not victories.
To have wholly shunned the conflict then, would have been a
confession of a weakness, which, as the people were not pre-
pared for, it was dangerous to expose: It would have been too
sudden a descent from the high ground of independence.*
• Congress, in October, had resoZred, ** that Fort Washington be retained as
long as possible." " This decision," says Sparks, ** appears to have been partly
in consequence of a resolve of Congress, passed five days before, desiring Gene-
ral Washington * by every art, and at whatever expense, to obstruct effectually
the navigation of the river between Fort Washington and Mount ConstitutioD,
as well to prevent the regress of the enemy's frigates tately gone op, as to hinder
them from receiving succour.* On the folbwing November, Washington wrote
to Greene, then at Fort Lee, expressing his conviction, that the enemy would
invest Fort Washington, and adding, *I must recommend to you to give every
attention in yonr power, and all the assistance you can, to that garrison.* In a
letter to General Greene, dated 8th November, 1776, Genral Wahiington writes^
*If we cannot prevent vessels from passing up, and the enemy are possessed of
the surrounding country, what valuable purpose can it answer to attempt to hold
a post, from which the expected benefit cannot be had ? I am, therefore, inclined
to think, that it wilt not be prudent to hazard the men and stores at Fort Wash-
ington ; but, aa you are on the spot, I leave it to you to give such orders as to its-
evacuation, as you may judge best, and so far revoking the order given to Colo-
nel Maoaw to defend it to the last.* **
On the 16th of the same month, in a letter to General Lee, he announces, that
Colonel Mag AW **> finding there was no prospect of retreating across the North
River, surrendered the post** The loss of killed and wounded was not then
known, but Washington believed it to have been considerable, from the length
and severity of the engagement. In a subsequent leiieT he says, "^ Colonel Maoaw
oould not get the men to man the lines, otherwise he would not have given up the
Fort'* The garrison at Fort Washington consisted of four Colonels, four Lieute-
nant-Colonels, five Majors, forty -six Captains, one hundred and seven Lieutenants,
thirty^ne Ensigns, one Chaplain, two Adjutants, two Quarter-masters, five Sur-
geons, two Commissaries, one Engineer, one Wagon-master, and 2607 privates.
The censure that has been cast upon the Commander-in-chief in connexion with
this surrender, prompts the extension of this note beyond what, under other cir-
cumstances, might be considered its proper limit. Like every other action of his
Ufbi^ the lapse of time, and the collection and concentration of authentic know^
BRITISH ADVANCE — AMERICAN TACTICS. 177
About the middle of October, General Howe having drawn his
main body to FrogVpoint, the immediate necessity of a removal
of our army from its present post became apparent; and was
resolved on accordingly. It is not to be supposed, without
ascribing an extreme want of discernment to our counsels, but
that the danger of remaining on a strip of land embarrassed by
the Hudson and the Sound, must have been perceived and duly
estimated, before the arrival of General Lee. Nevertheless it
seems to have been considered, that by hovering about New
York, restricting the limits of the enemy, and thereby obliging
him to have recourse to counteracting movements, the campaign
might be consumed in fruitless operations. This mode of pro-
ceeding, extremely perilous, and only harassing to ourselves, may
probably be referred in part to a proud military spirit, which
ledge, exhibits still more conspicooosly, the wisdom and ability which always
ohancterized his proceedings. In a letter to President Rebd, dated 22d Aagost,
1779, caused, says Sparks, ^'by the tenour of Mr. Reed*s letter, and by General
LiB*s Querie9 respecting the capture of Fort Washington, which were designed
to cast blame and disparagement upon the Commander-in-chier^ — General Wkaa-
INOTON thus wrote : ** When I came to Fo^t Lee, and found no measures taken
towards an evacuation, in consequence of the order before mentioned ; when I
feond General Gekknie, of whose judgment and candour I entertained a good
opinion, decidedly opposed to it; when I found other opinions so coincident with
his; when the wishes of Congress to obstruct the navigation of the North River,
which were delivered in such forcible terms, recurred ; when I knew that the
easy comrooxiication between the different parts of the army, then separated by
the river, depended upon it; and, lastly, when I considered that our policy led us
to waste the campaign without coming to a general action on the one hand, or suf^
fering the enemy to overrun the country on the other, I conceived that every im-
pediment, that stood in their way, was a means to answer these purposes ;— these,
when thrown into the scale with those opinions, which were opposed to an eva-
cuation, caused that warfare in my mind, and hesitation, which ended in the loss
of the garrison ; and, being repugnant to my own judgment of the advisableness
of attempting to hold the post, filled me with the greater regret The two great
causes which led to this misfortune, and which I have before recited, as well,
perhaps as my reasoning upon it, which occasioned the delay, were concealed
from public view, and of course left the field of censure quite open for any and
every labourer, who inclined to work in it; and afforded a fine theme for the pen
of a malignant writer who is less regardful of facts than of tlie point he wants to
ertablish, where he has the field wholly to himself, where concealment of a few
circumstances answers his purposes, or where a small transposition of them will
give a very different complexion to the same thing.*^ — Ed.
178 FIRE IN NEW YORK.
could not brook the supposed disgrace of fljiog before the foe, and
in part to that prime source of our disasters, short enlistments and
the militia system. For want of a permanent established force,
which would have placed our cause above the reach of vulgar
opinion, the public mind was perpetually to be consulted. The
popularity of the measure declaratory of independence was sus-
pended on our chance of success; and this would principally be
estimated by the ground^ we maintained or lost. Hence, as every
acre had its political value, the defensive warfare on the large
scale, could not safely be adopted ; nor for that reason, can the
Fabian fame, of " never having yielded the public safety to
clamour," be fully ascribed to General Washington.
While the main army remained at the heights of Haerlem, a
period of five weeks, from about the middle of September to the
middle of October, we (Shee's and Magaw's regiments) consti-
tuted a part of it, and did duty accordingly. It was my chance
to be on guard on the night of the fire at New York,* on the
picket, advanced about a mile in front of our lines. For a con-
siderable extent, the heavens appeared in flames, and from the
direction of the light, I could not doubt there was a conflagra-
tion in the city. I might have been distant from it about nine
miles ; and had not my situation been overlooked by a hill di-
rectly in front, the cause might perhaps have been distinctly de-
veloped. Whether this fire was produced by accident or design,
has never, I believe, been ascertained. By the British it was
considered as proceeding from us. A few weeks after, having,
for some purpose which I do not recollect, been sent, together
with Captain Beatty, with a flag, we talked with the ofiicer who
met us, about the extent of the fire and its cause. He said he
was unacquainted with the cause, but presumed Mr. Washing-
ton's people knew more about it than they did.f
The antipathy prevailing between the southern and eastern
troops, had been the cause of a court martial, of which I was a
* This it appears from General Hkatb*! ** Memoirs/* was on the night between
tiie 30th and 31 st of September.
f This officer was right according to Judge Henry. See his account of this
fire, page 185, of his ** Campaign agaiust Quebec"
COUBT MARTIAL. 179
member, upon the conduct of Lieutenant Stewart, of Small wood's
regiment, better known by his subsequent title of Major Jack
Stewart. He had been arrested bj General Silliman, on account
of some alleged disrepect or disobedience to that officer. As the
majority of the court were southern men, it was not at all won-
derful that Stewart was soon acquitted with honour. In so con-
temptible a light were the New England men regarded, that it
was scarcely held possible to conceive a case, which could be
construed into a reprehensible disrespect of them. Thinking so
highly as I now do of the gentlemen of this country, the recollec-
tion is painful, but the fact must not be dissembled: Even the
celebrated General Putnam, riding with a hanger belted across
his brawny shoulders, over a waistcoat without sleeves (his sum-
mer costume) was deemed much fitter to head a band of sickle-
men or ditchers, than musketeers. He might be brave, and had
certainly an honest manliness about him ; but it was thought, and
perhaps with reason, that he was not what the time required.
We had a regular army to oppose, and this could only be done
by discipline and regular soldiership.* Neither did General
* Mr. Gray don in a note, writes: "Tliat Greneral Putnam was deficient in
theie points, may be inferred from the following^ passage in a letter dated 15th
January, 1777, from General Washington to General Rkbd : * Many days ago I
wrote to General Putnam, supposing him to be at Princeton. What he can be
doing at Crosswicks, I know not, ailer my repeated wbhes to hear of him at
Prineeion. Surely be is there by this time !^ "
The quotation from General WABHiNaTON*B letter certainly authorizes no sacb
inference ; and the sneer of our author is unjust General Putnam, always distin^
gnisbedi proved himself equal to every emergency, and this, notwithstanding his
defective education, which, in truth, was extremely restricted. He was bred, fhwi
his earliest boyhood, to agricultural pursuits. If wanting in polish, which, from
the nature of his occupations, may be admitted, the deficiency was more than
coonterbalanced by his noble and disinterested zeal in the cause which he de- •
fended with unwavering fidelity, and of which, he was at once an ornament and
a support In 1755, at the commencement of the war between England and
France, at the age of thirty^even, he was appointed commander of a company
and joined the army near Crown Point In 1757, he was promoted to the rank of
Major. During the entire war he was distinguished for his bravery and ability,
and in 1761, retired to his conntry.home. He was soon called to fiU seteral
offices in Salem, Massachusetts, his native-town, and to represent it in the General
Aaiembly. When hostilities commenced between England and the Colonies,
** Putnam received the intelligence while ploughing in the middle of & field; he
180 'gENEEALS PUTNAM AND GREENE.
Greene himself, shine with all the eclat that his character has
since deservedly acquired.*
There were none, by whom an unofficer-like appearance and
deportment could be less tolerated than by a city-bred Maiy-
lander, who, at this time, was distinguished by the most fashion*
ably cut coat, the most macaroni cocked hat, and hottest blood
in the union ; if there was any exception, it was to be found
among the children of the sun of a still more southern location.
Among all these, the point of honour was maintained, as it still
seems to be, with considerable punctilio ; and the dashing man-
ner of Stewart, and indignant tone of Captain Smith (now Gene-
ral Smith,) who testified in his behalf, impressed the court, I
remember, with a high idea of their military qualities: and
brave men they certainly were — a praise, indeed, due to the
officers from Maryland generally ; as well as to those of Small-
wood's battalion, which behaved well and suffered severely on
left his plough there, unyoked his team, and, without changing his clothes, set off
for the scene of action. He levied a regiment under Colonial authority in Coo-
necticut, and marched to Cambridge. His Colony appointed him a Major-General,
and Congress soon after confirmed to him the same rank in the Continental army.
About this time the British offered him the rank of MajorXveneral in His Majesty's
service, with a pecuniary remuneration for his treason ; but the temptation could
not influence him.'* He served throughout the war, and died May 29th, 1790,
aged seventy-three years.— Ed.
* In what respect Gknekal GaKSNi was deficient, we are not informed. We
may infer, however, that the author has reference to his deportment, alsa His
ftither was an artisan, and a Quaker preacher, near the town of Warwick in
Rhode Island. An ignorant and illiterate man, unable properly to estimate the
value and advantages of education, but who is aaid to have been very careful of
the moral and religious instruction of his children. GaUNS was a self educated
man. In 1770, he was elected to the State Legislature, and in 1774, enrolled
himself as a private in a company called the Kentish guards. ** After the baltto
of Lexington, the State of Rhode Island raised what was termed an army
of observation, and chose GaiENB its commander, with the title of Major-GeoersJ.
His elevation from the ranks may give some idea of the estimation in which bis
military talents were held." His services were of the most brilliant character,
and it has been said that WASHtNOTOit was anxious, in the event of his decease,
that Gebbnk should be his successor. It is very generally admitted, that of ail
the officers engaged in the revolutionary contest, GaEBinB was most eminently
qualified to succeed to the high command, if death had deprived the country of
the services of Wasbinotoii .
Gbodial GiBBNs, died, within three years after the terminatioo of the war, at
the age of forty .four years.— Ed.
AUTHOR AT FORT WASHINGTON — COLONEL SHEE. 181
Long Island and at White Plains. Its officers exhibited a martial
appearance by a uniform of scarlet and buff; which, by the by,
savoured somewhat of a servility if imitation, not fully according
with the independence we had assumed. The common soldiers
from the east and south, did not much better assimilate than the
officers ; but a traffic was soon established between the former
and the Pennsylvanians. This consisted in a barter of the ration
of rum for that of molasses. The Yankees did not care for the
first, and our Irishmen could very well dispense with the latter.
It has been supposed that the Pennsylvania line consisted chiefly
of Irish, but this would by no means appear from my company.
Out of seventy-three men, I find there were twenty from Ireland,
four from England, two from Scotland, two from Germany, and
the remaining forty-five were Americans. To these, adding four
American officers, the proportion of Irish is but little more llian a
fourth.
The official letters of General Washington ascertain the move-
ment of the army towards White Plains to have commenced on
the twentieth of October. We were very desirous of being at-
tached to it, both for the sake of variety, and the better opportu-
nity of seeing service and acquiring distinction ; but to our ex-
treme chagrin, found that we were to remain in our prison. It
was perhaps supposed, we had an affection for the work of our
hands ; but if so, nothing could be more erroneous. We were
weary of the sameness of garrison duty, which, from the great
extent of ground we had to guard, became very severe. It was
not unusual for a captain to be on guard twice a week, and a
subaltern oftener.
Our battalion was now commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Cadwalader ;* Colonel Shee, having before the march of the army,
obtained leave of absence to visit his family, and converted that
leave into an entire abdication of his command. This was cer-
tainly an extraordinary incident, and one I have never heard ac-
counted for. Whatever cause he might have had for disgust, or
* CoLONBL LambeAt Cadwalader. — ite was made prisoner on the surrender
of Fort Washington, but, at the reqdest of General Prescott, who, when himself
a i»risoner, at Philadelphia, bad received attentions from Colonel Cadwalader^
&tber^he was immediately released withoot parole by Sir William Howe. — Ed.
16
182 COUNCIL OF SAFETY.
for conceiving that our affairs were tendihg to ruin, his duty
seemed too imperious to be relinquished; and when Colonel
Cadwalader acquainted some of us with his suspicion and indeed
conviction, that he would not return, we were truly astonished.
But though I attempt not to apologize for his conduct, I must
say, that he had some useful talents for the command of a regi-
ment. He was remarkably attentive to the necessary accomo-
dations of every kind, whether of food, clothing, tents, arms or
accoutrements ; indefatigable in his endeavours to promote disci-
pline, and even enthusiastic in what regarded the neatness and
soldier-like appearance of the corps. He was, moreover, gentle-
manly and agreeable in his manners. Whether his promptness
in discerning difficulties overmatched his fortitude in sustaining
them, I venture not to say ; but he left us in the manner stated.
Mr. Shee is no longer in a situation to be hurt by a recognition
of his delinquency, if such it was ; nor is it mentioned from a
disrespect to his memory. Such a motive I disclaim. With me,
he was ever friendly, and bee from party rancour : personally, I
liked the man, and accepted his civilities, which 1 never fidled
to receive on meeting him in Philadelphia.
An event that took place a few weeks after the retirement of
the Colonel, had almost tempted some of us to foUow his illau-
dable example. The committee, or council of safety, as it was
now called, had undergone a regeneration ; and consisted, with
perhaps an exception or two, of a new set of members. Persons
acquainted with the genius of liberty, will not be surprised at
this. To borrow the language of French paradox, there is nothing
permanent in a revolution, but change. In the auction of popu-
larity, the bid is ever more attended to than the inclination or
ability to pay ; and the most boldly-dashing patriot is ever the
most successfiil one. So it proved in the council. New men, in-
flated with a little brief authority, are always glad of an occasion
for displaying their consequence ; and partial to the source from
whence they derive their importance, they are ever ready to
recognise aristocratic oppression. In this spirit, they lent an ear
to all the idle, ill-founded reports of the cowardly, skulking sol-
diers, who, under pretence of sickness, or otherwise, had found
tbeir way to Philadelphia. These fellows told the council that
PROMOTIONS. 183
their Captains had cheated them, and the Council, without in-
quiry, seemed to take the matter as proved. They accordingly
wrote an illiberal letter to Colonel Cadwalader on the subject,
which he thought it his duty to lay before us, though despising
the low spirit that had dictated it. In addition to this affront,
this same body, who still retained the power of appointment to
military command, went on in the manufacture of Majors and
Colonels, in utter disregard of the claims of the officers in service,
and sometimes, from the coursest materials. An hour's visit to
the camp, seemed to have more merit in their eyes, than daily
and nightly duty in it ; and a little self-puffing, with due incense,
could hardly fail to propitiate these great dispensers of commis-
sions.* One instance of their propensity to make promotions,
occurred in the case of an Adjutant, who had been enclosed
by the Hessians in the battle of Long Island. He contrived
to conceal himself in the woods 'till dark, when, from his
understanding and speaking German, he was enabled to answer
and elude their sentries ; and by so doing to get backto our lines,
For this piece of address, which consisted merely in good hiding
* Similar practices and treatment of the officers doing daty on the Canada
frontier in the war of the Madison Administration, in aid of their Imperial ally^
have excited a similar remark. In the spirited address to the public, dated
Bofialo, June 12th, 1815, and signed by Col. Robert Pardy and William Thomas^
in behalf of the officers of the Line, and of the Hospital and Medical Staff, is this
passage:
**'nkey regret, too, that a winter^ campaign at Washington should oflen a^ail
more than seven in the field ; and that those who remain at their posts on a
frozen frontier, in the performance of their duty, should thereby lose their grade,
to give place to some who have been basking in the sunshine of favouritism,
and feasting on the delicacies of the metropolis/* The just inference from such
facts as these, is, that parasites are as much at home at democratic, as at royal
coorti, the eternal babble about intrigue and corruption in the latter notwith-
standing. By observations of this kind, I would, forasmuch as in me lies, pre*
vent the deception which popular forms of government impose on benevolent
minds. Whatever other excellencies they may possess, Justice, Honour and Ge.
Density are not among their attributes, and whatever of patriotism and virtue
tbey may boast, *tis certainly not the man of probity who succeed the best in
them. Duplease whom I may by such avowals of the truth, my mite shall be
oontiibated to undeceiving the world ; and I should hoM myself a traitor to my
ftUow men, if^ undertaking to promulgate the results of my experience, I should
conceal or misrepresent facts oi^ which the happiness of future generations may
essentially depend.
184 REMONSTRANCE OF OFFICERS.
and speaking his mother tongue, the council invested him with a
majority^ at once jumping him over the heads of all the Captains
and subalterns in the line. This Adjutant was Menzies, akeady
spoken of as a fencing-master in Philadelphia ; and who first ap-
peared there in the less dignified character of a dancer on the
stage, a circumstance which rendered his preferment still more
galling. I should be unjust, however, if I did not say, that
Menzies, though at this time little known, turned out to be an
honest, worthy man, attentive to duty, correct in his demeanour,
and generally esteemed, though certainly not for talents that could
throw others into shade, or justify his irregular advancement.
Conscious of integrity, soured by hard duty, and smarting
under the reflection, that while we were sustaining the severest
privations, the very men who imputed fraud to us, were snug and
secure at their fire-sides, we declared that we would not remain
a day longer in a service, at once so thankless and preposterous.
Colonel Cadwalader, to whom we made the declaration, remon-
strated against its rashness, while he admitted the enormity of the
provocation. He observed to us, that nothing could justify such a
step in the heat of a campaign ; that it would ruin us in the pubUc
opinion, and embitter our future lives ; that it would recoil upon
ourselves, and be an everlasting blister to our sensibility. In
short, he said every thing which a sensible, prudent man, ac-
quainted with the world, could say upon the occasion. We felt
the full force of his reasoning and acquiesced in it ; thou^ I
have not an idea that one of us would have put the threat in
execution, had we been left entirely to ourselves. Our vapouring
was the effect of sudden passion, which at length vented itself in
the following letter, written and sent off" with nearly as little con^
sideration, as we had used in taking up our first resolution.
** Gentlemen,
" Were it not that some expressions of resentment are
natural to the human mind when it fee^s itself injured, we should
disdain the meanness of telling you, how much we were mortified
on seeing your letter to Colonel Cadwalader, containing your
illiberal charge against the Captains of his battalion, of withhold-
ing the pay due to their men.
" For the same reason, we cannot forbear mentioning our dissa*
BEMONSTRANCE OF OFFICERS. 185
tisfkction at the late appointments and promotions, wherein some
that have never been in service, are preferred to those who have
undergone the toils and dangers of a severe campaign, and others*
of an inferior rank to those of a superior, without any proof, or,
as we presume, suggestion of misbehaviour in the latter.
"As to the accusation of fraud! we are above it. We mean
not a vindication : to attempt it, would betray a meanness which
might almost justify the base suspicion. In a word, we deny the
chaige, and rest perfectly easy under a consciousness that it can-
not be supported.
"As to the promotions, we shall orJy say, that the man who feels
no indignity upon such occasions, wants an essential qualification
for a soldier, and is, in our opinion, unworthy to bear a com-
mission.
"But do not imagine, gentlemen, by this, that we are en^dous of
superior merit. For our parts, we pretend to very little ; and in
any other service, for* merit is rated by comparison, we should
think ourselves inadequate to our present appointments. We
entered into the army not for pay or preferment, but to serve
our country to the best of our poor abilities : 'Tis this alone which
keeps us in at this hour, as we conceive, and in so doing, we.
hope we may not incur the imputation of vanity, that notwith-.
standing the insignificance of our services, the cause as well as
our honour, might suffer from our resignations. However, "we
mean not to continue in the army, nor do we intend to accept of
commissions on the new establishment ; and it is a matter of the
utmost indiflference to us, how soon the council of safety may
take it into their heads to appoint others more to their satisfaction^
in the room of, gentlemen,
" Your most obedient servants."
This angry epistle was signed, I think, by five of us. We
heard no more of it ; but in the sequel, we had reason to wish
that it never had been written ; and were convinced, that silence
under suffering, is generally, if not always, wise.
The denouement of the drama, in which we were acting a part, was
now rapidly approaching. After the action of White Plains, of
which, as I was not there, I shall say nothing, General Howe
16*
186 FORT WASHINGTON INDEFENSIBLE.
With his army, was falling down upon our post ; and we had little
doubt, that his object was to invest it without delay. On receipt
of this intelligence, Colonel Cadwalader proposed to me to walk
with him to tfie Fort, (for we were now stationed in the lines of
Haerlem heights,) that we might endeavour, by an examination
of its means of defence, to collect, whether it could be the design
to hold it. We went and reconnoitered it, and the result was,
that it was absolutely untenable, and must be abandoned ; though
still, all the measures taking, seemed to point to a defence. I
^vill not undertake minutely to describe the situation of the Fort,
as my memory might not enable me to do it truly. But I recollect,
as it has been observed by General Lee, that there were no bar^
racks, or casemates, or fuel, or water within the body of the
place. It was an open, earthem construction, with ground at a
short distance on the back of it, equally high if not higher ; with-
out a ditch of any consequence, if there was a ditch at all ; no
outworks, an incipient one on the north, not deserving the appel-
lation, or any of those exterior, multiplied obstacles and defences,
that, so far as I can judge, could entitle it to the name of a foi^
tress, in any degree capable of sustaining a siege. It required no
parallels to approach it : the citadel was at once within reach of
the assailants. In addition to this, there were no magazines of
any kind prepared; ?indit i$ stated in the Annual Register y which
parried on the history of the war, that with its other deficiencies,
there was not found in it ammunition adequate to the shortest
defence. Yet, it was to be defended, as wiH soon appear : and
Gordon, in his history, gives a letter from Colonel Magaw, stating
that he could hold out until the latter part of December, an
opinion which shows him to have been more miserably deficient in
judgment than ever we supposed him to be. He had heard of sieges
being protracted for month? and even years ; he had a good opinion
of the spirit of his garrison ; and, as the place he had to defend
was called a Fort, and had cannon it, he thought the deuce was in
it if he could not hold out a few weeks. Such, probably, were the
data of his calculation ; nor, though firiendly to the memory of a
sincere and gallant man, can I suppose them a jot better.
While we remained in this incertitude in respect to our
destination, and the main armies wece mancBttvering above us
DEMONSTRATION OF AN ATTACK. 187
about the Brunx, Lord Percy, who commanded the British troops
on York Island, thought proper, one day, to appear in force in
the plains of Haerlem, lying between his and our advanced
posts. It was on Sunday, the day his lordship was supposed
to prefer for his military operations.* As we were both too
insignificant and too distant to admit the supposition that it was
intended as a diversion, in favour of General Howe, his object
probably was to put our countenance to the test ; to feel our
pulse, and if he found it tremulous, to push us into the Fort.
But, on the other hand, if he found it full and regular, it was
only to bluster awhile with his artillery ; skirmish a little with
his small arms, and retire. This was all, at least, that came of
ai very pompous display. We had one field piece with which
we answered his fire ; and from the carcass of a white horse»
which was left to bleaching on the ground he occupied, we had
satifactory evidence that our balls had reached him. It was not
our business to quit the high ground in force, although some of
our men were permitted to skirmish with the light parties which
approached us. The firing was pretty warm, and a few men
killed and wounded on either side. An Irish lad of about
eighteen, who belonged to my company, killed a British soldier
and brought ofi* his arms; which on the evening parade, were
forinally presented to him by Colonel Cadwalader, in reward of
his bravery. History has preserved no record of this alTair,
which, triSing as it was, is as well deserving of memorial, as
many others that have been preserved in the transactions of our
petite guere. Had it passed between the grand armies, it would
without doubt have been taken notice of; but as it did not, we
are reduced to the unfortunate situation of Sir John Falstaff at
the battle of Shrewsbury, in being obliged, though late, to attend
to its booking ourselves. The celebrated Thomas Paine,t how-
* It was probably, on the 97th of October, aa it is noted in General Hbath'i
Memoirs, that in the forenoon of that day, a heavy cannonade was beard towards
Fort Washington, and as this was the day of the action at White Plains, it is
probable there was a concert between Generala Hows and Pkrot.
t When this man'a pamphlet, "Common Sense," first appeared. Dr. Fkanxliiv
was generally considered as the real author. Paine but tlie ostensible one. It
made considerable noise, and certainly put things in a new and strong light,, bat,,
188 SKIRMISHING CAMP COMFORTS.
ever, happened to witness the proceeding from Fort Lee, and
gave us a handsome puff in one of the Philadelphia papers of
tiie day.
Another afiair, which never got beyond the precincts of our
secluded position, was the carrying a Hessian picket on the side
of KingVbridge. This was achieved by one of our sergeants
and a few men, but three or four days before we were taken.
The officer of the guard was killed ; and the sergeant, with the
savage exultation of one of Homer's heroes, appeared in his uni-
form on the parade.
It was now November, and the nights becoming cold. It was
the season, too, for north-easterly storms, one of which is rendered
memorable to me, from a circumstance of some interest which
accompanied it. I was upon guard with Lieutenant Davidson,
of our battalion, at a place distinguished by the appellation of
The point of rocks, which skirted the road leading to KingV
bridge. This was our most advanced picket towards New Yoik,
and only separated from that of the enemy by a valley a few hun-
dred yards over. The night, as already mentioned, was extremely
raw, rainy and tempestuous ; and the only shelter the spot afforded
was an old caboose, which had been placed here by way of guard-
to a sober miDd,. unhMted by controvenyf, there seems but little in it, to enfbroe
the conclusions it aims at It made the author, however, conspicuous, and intro-
duced him to the notice of the principal Whigrs of the day. Hence, his good
reception at Head Quarters, and acquaintance with the Gommander-in.chief^
whom he seems to have considered from that time, as embarked with him in the
general cause of reforming, republicanizing, and democritizing the world ; than
which nothing was more foreign to the views of the Greneral, or those of the
others, who took a lead in the early stage of the contest One of the most unto-
ward consequences of a successful resistance of government, is the unavoidable
association in the undertaking, of the worst men with the best, of fools, fanatics
system-mongers, reformers and philosophers^ with men of sense, moderation and
virtue, who, wishing to stop when the true object of the controversy is attained,
are seldom suffered to do it, or, if fortunate enough to prevail, they are, thence-
forth viewed with suspicion and charged with apostaoy. Thus General Want*
RNiTOBr is accused by this incendiary, of having deserted his principles, because
of his not aiding and comforting him in his design of first revolutionising Ebg.
land, and then France ; and that sincere friend of the General, Mr. jEFnusoir,
does his best to give colour to the charge, by fostering Paine, as a persecuted
patriot, and formally escorting him ip a public vessel to this ooontry fron^
Franee.;
LUDICROUS ALARM. 189
house. A kind of chimney had been built at the mouth of it, and
a fire here in calm weather, rendered it tolerably comfortable ;
but at this time, the smoke produced and driven into the cabin
by the storm, could not be endured ; neither was the shelter from
the driving rain by any means sufficient : we were dripping wet.
In this miserable situation, Davidson proposed our going to a
deserted house on the low ground directly across the road, where
we could have a fire, and be dry and comfortable. But this I
refiised to do, since, though not more than thirty or forty yards
from our post, and though rather an extension than a dereliction
of it, yet it varied the station as to ourselves. The non-commis-
sioned officers and the rest of the guard were, indeed, to remain
there, but in case of disaster there would be blame, and the re-
sponsibility was upon us, and particularly upon myself. In
this resolution, I for a long time persisted against the repeated
importunities of my companion, .who ingeniously obviated my
objections, until at length, the storm rather increasing than abating,
I consented about midnight to go to the house, first taking the
precaution to continue the line of sentinels from the point of rocks
across the road and round the building at some distance from it,
so that it was impossible it should be approached by the enemy
unperceived, should he endeavour to grope his way into unknown
hostile ground, in one of the darkest and most dismal nights that
can be conceived. We had located ourselves in an outer room,
where we had a good fire, and had already pretty well dried our-
selves. Davidson was stretched along a bench fixed to the wall,
half asleep, if not whoDy so, and I was sitting before the fire,
when a sudden noise of feet and voices reached the door. The
latch was lifted, and as I rose up, not without considerable alarm,
the first object that presented itself was a British soldier, with his
musket and fixed bayonet in his hand. Who are you ? said I, a
deserter ! " No deserter," was the answer. My emotion did not
prevent my preserving a pretty good countenance, though my first
impression was, that we were surprised, and should be bayonetted
out of hand. But this idea was scarcely formed, when the ap-
pearance of one of my own men behind the British soldier, changed
it to a more pleasing one, and justified, if it did not induce, the
addition of the term deserter ^ to the question of who are you 9 In
190
&ct, he was a deserter ; but though in the very act of committiDg
the crime he revolted against its opprobrium. I understood him,
and softened down the ungraciousness of my salutation, by asking
him if he had come over to us. He answered, yes. Our sentinel
had done his duty, but awkwardly, in not having disarmed the
soldier, and introduced him in a less questionable shape.
The busde of the incident having completely roused Davidson,
and set him upon his legs, we fell to questioning our refugee. He
called himself Broderick, was an intelligent fellow, end brought
with him the last newspaper from New York. He had for some
time, he said, projected coming over to us, and had availed him-
self of this stormy night to put his design in execution. By means
of the darkness, he had been enabled to separate himself from his
comrades without their perceiving it, and had probably got to our
sentries before they discovered him to be gone. He informed us
that we might expect to be attacked in six or eight days at farthest,
as some time had been employed in transporting heavy artillery
to the other side of the Haerlem, and as the preparations for the
assault were nearly completed. Among other things, he told us, that
our situation at this house was a very unsafe one, as their patroles,
still speaking as a Briton, passed very near it, and might easily
sweep us off; and indeed he appeared uneasy at the idea while
he staid with us. This was not long. I put him under the care
of a trusty sergeant, with orders to guard him vigilantly, and to
take him to head quarters, as soon as it should be light enough to
find the way there. The hint we had received in regard to the
enemy's proximity, and still more our own knowledge of the com-
parative insecurity of our present station with the one we had left,
induced us to return to the latter, maugre the comforts of a snug
room and good fire. We accordmgly drew in our sentinels, and
repaired to the caboose, where we weathered out the remabder
of the ni^t, by this time pretty well advanced.
The deserter's information turned out to be correct, as in not
more than eight or ten days, I think. Colonel Magaw, the com-
mandant of the fort, was summoned by General Howe to surren-
der it. He returned the usual answer, that he would defend it to
the last extremity. This was announced to us at evening parade by
Colonel Cadwalader, who in a few words put us in mind of what
FORT WASHINGTON SUMMONED. 191
oar country and our honour demanded of us, and enjoined it both
on officers and men to see that their arms and ammunition were
m order, and to hold themselves in readiness to take their posts
before day-light the next morning. The plan of defence adopted
by Colonel Magaw, was, instead of cooping up his garrison in the
fort, to draw it out into the post which had been occupied by the
main army. This consisted of the strong grounds towards King's-
bridge on the north, the elevated, steep and rocky bank of Haer^
lem river on the east, and the entrenchments on the south ; the
western limit or rear of the position, being the Hudson river, com-
manded to a certain extent by Forts Washington and Lee on
either side. Although I have always supposed that this post would
require at least ten thousand men for its support, perhaps in that
number I am much below the mark, as I find it stated by the
King of Prussia in his history of the seven years war, that sixteen
thousand men were very inadequate to the defence of Berlin, three
miles in circumference, say nine or ten of our miles,* Now the
circuit to be defended by Magaw was scarcely less, if I have not
much forgotten its dimensions, than four or five miles : the scale
in the map of Chief-Justice Marshall's Life of Washington, would
make it not less than seven : And to do this, he had nominally
something more than two thousand soldiers, really little more than
half their number: For I cannot set any great value upon the
militia poured m upon us, on the evening before, and on the
morning of the engagement. My complaisance to the sovereign
people will not carry me so far as to compliment them with being
soldiers without an iota of discipline or ever having seen an enemy,
* A case perhaps sliU more in point occurred during the same war, when Gene-
ral Fonquet with ten thousand six hundred and eighty men, undertook to defend
the post of Landshut, at which there were redoubts, against General Laudohn with
an army of thirty-four thousand men. A particular account of this is to be found
m the 13th volume of the King of Friis8ia*8 works. The force of Fonquet was
deemed wholly insufficient, as there were intervals of ground of two thousand
paces or more left undefended. — We had intervals perhaps proportionably large*
that we were unable to man ; hence, if General Fooquet received the warmest
approbation of the king his master for his unsuccessful attempt, (for he was beaten
and made prisoner,) it b sorely unnecessary for the American historian to seek
an apology for the loss of Fort Washington in the rawness of some of the troops,
to whom its defence was committed*
192 STATE OF PRISONERS.
even though every tenth man among them were a Caesar in valour,
or a Cato in patriotism.* Several individuals, however, of this
description of force behaved bravely.
I cannot give a stronger proof of my ill opinion of the Fort,
than when I say, that of the alternatives presented to Colonel
Magaw of confining his defence to it, or of extending his opera-
tions to so large a circuit, he adopted the right one in choosing
the latter. It might indeed be made a question whether the de-
fence should not have been restricted to the oblong hill on which
the Fort was erected : But this ground being considerably weaker
than that of the banks of the Haerlem, (taking the river into con-
sideration,) the temptation to prefer the latter both for this rea-
son, and because it had somewhat of the advantage of an out-
work in keeping the assailants at a distance, always a desidera-
turn with the besieged, might have prevailed with a more ex-
perienced commander than Magaw. I have no doubt, however,
that the works and defences of the fortress should have compre-
hended the whole of this hill, called Mount Washington, in
which case, with adequate preparation and magazines, it might
have stood a siege.f There was yet another mode which would,
in some degree, have contracted the position: and this was, in-
stead of manning the outer entrenchments towards New York to
have placed the men in the inner one, and upon the high grounds
about Colonel Roger Morris's house. This would have short-
ened the front on Haerlem river, and by more compacting the
force, have put its several parts into a better condition of mutual
succour and support. But, besides, that this disposition would
not have very considerably abridged the circuit to be defended,
* So much 18 risked in speaking thus of militia, that too many aooenories can-
not be brought to sustain the assertion. General Washington thus wrote to Gene-
ral Rkid after the affairs of Trenton arid Princeton : ** If the militia cannot be
prevailed upon to restrain the foraging parties, and to annoy and harass the enemy
in their excursions and upon a march, they will be of very little use to as, as I am
sore they never can be brought fairly up to an attack in any serious affair.'*
t Mr. Stedmau, in his History of the War, blames Colonel Magaw for suffer-
ing his men, upon being driven from I heir outposts to crowd iuto the Fort in-
stead of forming upon this hill : But, improperly, I presume, as the Hessians must
have been iri pocsession of the north end of the hill, as soon as Rawlings was
driven from ft
BEFLECTIONS ON THE SITUATION OF THE TROOPS. 193
and that it might have been liable to some positive objections I
am not aware of, the desideratum already adverted to, would na-
turally induct a preference of the farther lines ; and no doubt the
calculation was, that after fighting to the utmost in the first, we
might fight again in the second. In fact, the idea of taking an
extensive range, and equally resisting in every part the compres-
sion to the centre, the eflfect and advantage of regular fortifica-
tions sufiBciently manned, is extremely plausible and seducing;
insomuch, that none but an old General who has been taught by
long experience to know the importance of adhering to rules of
proportioli, as well in the management of animate as inanimate
machinery, will have the boldness to disregard it. Whether
these last two schemes of defence or either of them, occurred to
our Commander, I do not know ; but if they did occur, they were
probably contemplated as dernier resorts, or eflTorts in reserve,
which, it would be time enough to employ, when our first exer-
tions should have been overpowered. The same reasoning might
have induced General Greene to suppose, that after slaughtering
a host of the enemy, we might methodically withdraw into the
citadel of Fort Washington: and then, provided each of us had
killed his man, and thus fulfilled the object of the operation, if
any object it had, we might have been snugly slipped over the
Hudson, as erst we had been over the East river. But in hello
rum licet his errare^ we should beware of repeating a mistake in
war; and how this fine project was marred and the garrison put
hors de combat will now be seen. I repeat, however, that the
error was in attempting to defend the place, not in the disposition
of the troops, which, all things considered, was perhaps, as ad-
vantageous as possible.
But supposing Fort Washington tenable, " what single pu^
pose," as it has been observed by General Lee, " did it answer
to keep it? Did it cover, did it protect a valuable country?
Did it prevent the enemy's ships from passing and repassing with
impunity?" No; but We had been too much in the habit of
evacuating posts, and it was high time to correct the procedure.
This garrison must stand, because it had been hitherto too
fashionable to run away; and Pennsylvania and Maryland must
IT
194 POSITION OF THE TBOOPS.
pay for the retreating alacrity of New England.* If any thing
better can be made of General Greene's motives for retaining
the post, as mentioned in General WASHiNCTON's^fficial letter
to Congress, I am willing to take to myself the discredit of per-
version. If what I say should be thought to implicate the Com*
mander-in-chief, and to impugn his decision, I cannot help it.
A good man he undoubtedly was, nor will party malignity be
ever able to deprive him of the fame of a truly great one. But
my veneration for truth, is even greater than that for his charac-
ter ; nor will my admiration of his virtues induce me to say, that
his military career was without a blemish. f
On the sixteenth of November, before day-break, we were at
our post in the lower lines of Haerlem heights ; that is, our regi-
ment and Magaw'S) and some broken companies of Miles's and
other battalions, principally from Pennsylvania. This might be
called our right wing, and was under the command of Colonel
Cadwalader; our left, extending to the Hudson above, and on
the north side of the fort towards King's-bridge, was commanded
by Colonel RawlingsJ of Maryland, who had there his own regi-
ment of riflemen, and probably some other troops; though as the
position was narrow, numbers were not so essential to it, as to
other parts of the general post. The front or centre extending
a considerable distance along Haerlem river,§ was committed to
* Once for all let me be understood as only alluding in these remarks to the
bad constitution of the New England troops; and by no means to the people
generally, Who have no doubt thq means of furnishing as good officers as any
other part of the Union. But from their shameful inattention to it, this campaign,
the southern officers were warranted in their indignation.
t Subsequent developments prove, as we have shown, that the opinion of Gene-
ral Washington was adverse to the course which circumstances beyond his con-
trol, compelled him to adopt If the information, sincte tfo faithfully collected and
concentrated by the indefatigable Sparks, had been within reach of our author,
we have too high an opinion of his candour to suppose that he would have in-
dulged in a strain of remark as unjust as it is painful to peruse. — Ed.
t CoLONKL MosKs Rawlinos. — General Washington speaks of him in his letter
to John Augustine Washington, 19th November, 1776: "By General Greene's
account the enemy have suffered greatly on the north side of Fort Washington.
Colonel Rawlings* regiment was posted there, and behaved with great spirit'^—
£d.
i In calling (his the front, I conlbrm to Judge Marshall*! description of th^
ATTACKED BY THE BRITISH. 195
the militia of the Flying Camp, and Colonel Magaw placed him-
self in the most convenient station for attending to the whole,
having selected one or two officers to assist him as aids-de-camp.
I think it was between seven and eight o'clock, when they gave
US the first shot from one of their batteries on the other side of
Haerlem river. It was well directed, at a cluster of us that
were standing together observing their movements ; but it fell
short by about ten or fifteen yards, and bounded over the spot
we had precipitately abandoned. In correcting this error they
afterwards shot too high, and did us no harm ; at least, while I
remained in this part of the field, which though enfiladed or
rather exposed in the rear, was too distant to be very seriously
annoyed. They had better success in front, killing a man with
a cannon ball, belonging to our pickets, which they drove in.
Soon after, they approached the lines in great force under cover
of a wood, in the verge of which they halted, and slowly began
to form, giving us an occasional discharge from their artillery.
Tired of the state of suspense in which we had remained for se-
veral hours, I proposed to Colonel Cadwalader, to throw myself
with my company into a small work or ravelin about two hun-
dred yards in advance, for the purpose of annoying them as they
came up. To this he assented, and I took possession of it; but
found it was a work that had been little more than marked out,
not knee high, and of course affording no cover. For this rea-
son, after remainbg in it a few minutes, with a view to impress
my men with the idea that a breastwork was not absolutely ne-
cessary, I abandoned it, and returned into the intrenchment.
This unimportant movement was treated with some respect: Not
knowing its meaning, it induced the troops that were in column,
immediately to display ; and the irregulars to open upon us a
action. As the longeat line of the position, it was the ft-ont, bat seems improperly
so called when it is considered that, except at its upper extremity, no troops were
posted on it It would be more correct^ therefore, to consider the posts, the one
crossing the island on the north under Colonels Rawliogs and Baxter, and the
other on the sooth, under Colonel Cadwalader, as two distinct and unconnected
positions, separated as they were by a space of about three miles. This interval
for above half its extent, lying along the banks of the Haerlem, was to depend for
defence on casual supplies of troops, as they could be spared from other places.
196 BATTLE OF 'hAERLKM HEIGHTS.
scattering fire. Soon after my return to the lines, it being ob-
served that the enemy was extending himself towards the Hudson
on our right. Colonel Cadwalader detached me thither with my
company, with orders to post myself to the best advantage for
the protection of that flank, I accordingly marched, and took
my station at the extremity of the trench, just where the high
grounds begin to decline towards the river. This situation, from
the intervention of higher land, concealed from my view the
other parts of the field; and thence, disqualifies me from speak-
ing of what passed there, as an eye-witness: But that the
action had begun in earnest, I was some time after informed
by my sense of hearing. It was assailed by a most tre-
mendous roar of artillery, quickly succeeded by incessant vol-
lies of small arms, which seemed to proceed from the east and
north ; and it was to these points, that General Howe chiefly di-
rected his eflTorts. The direct and cross fire from his batteries on
the east side of the Haerlem, effectually covered the landing of
his troops, and protected them also in gaining the steep ascents
on our side. It was no disgrace to the militia, that they shrank
from this fire ; such of them at least as were exposed to it with-
out cover. I question whether the bravest veterans could have
stood it, unless I am deceived as to the advantage of the ground
on which the batteries were erected. When the heights were
gained, the enemy planted there must maintain themselves by
their small arms, since the artillery from their batteries would
be equally fatal to them as to us. On receiving intelligence
that embarkations of British troops were about to be thrown
across Haerlem river in his rear. Colonel Cadwalader made de-
tachments from his position (already much too weakly manned)
to meet this body of the enemy, as yet unopposed by any part
of our force. The first detachment arrived in time to open afire
upon the assailants before they reached the shore, and it was
well directed and deadly. Nevertheless their great superiority
of force, adequately aided by artiMery, enabled them to land, and
by extending themselves, to gain the heights. On this ground
it was that a sharp contest ensued ; speaking of which in his
official account of the action, General Howe says, '^ it was well de-
fended by a body of the rebels :" and so it undoubtedly was, when
ISSUE OF THE EMGAGElfENT — ^DEFENCES. 197
it is considered that but aboat one hundred and fifty of our men^
with a single eighteen pounder, were opposed by eight hundred
British troops, under cover of a battery. But overpowered by
numbers, the resistance was inefiectual ; and the detachments
engaged in it, retired towards the fort. Rawlings, on his part,
made a gallant stand against the Hessians under the command of
General Knyphausen, to whom bad been assigned the perilous
glory, of gaining this strong piece of ground, difiering essentially
fiom that on the borders of Haerlem river, in the want of oppo-
site heights for batteries. The Germans here lost a great
many men ; but as they had been bought by his Britannic ma-
jesty, he bad an unquestionable right to make a free use of them;
and this seemed to be the conviction of General Howe. Raw-
lings also suffered a good deal in proportion to his numbers.
He had I think two officers killed ; and himself, Major Williams,
and some others, were wounded; one of whom^ a Mr. Hanson,
died in New York. The attainment of the post of Rawlings,
put the Hessians in possession of the ground which commanded
the fort ; as that, possessed by the British, commanded the opea
field. Hence, the contest might be said to be at an end«
Colonel Cadwalader, aware that be was placed between two
fires; and that the victorious enemy in his rear, would soon ex*
tend themselves across the island, ordered a retreat just in time
to prevent his interception.
But I here suspend my own relation for the purpose of in-
troducing a more ample statement of unquestionable authenticity,
obligingly furnished by a friend ; and which, embracing more
detail, and mentioning some interesting particulars but litde
known, will occupy a few pages, nuich to the advantage of these
Memoirs.
'' Fort Washington stood on an eminence, situated on thft
margin of the Hudson, or North river, about two miles and
a-half below King's-bridge. The access to the level on the top
of it, is steep and difficult on every side, except on the south,
where the ground is open, and the ascent gradual, to the fort.
The hill extends along the North river about half a mile from
the fort ; and at the termination of it were some small works,
17*
198 DISPOSITION OF THE TBOOPS.
\rhich, with the natural strength of the place, were deemed a
sufficient protection against the enemy, in that quarter.
" Nearly opposite to the fort, on the west side of Haerlcm
river, a body of men was posted to watch the motions of the
enemy, who had erected works on the high and commanding
ground east of that river, apparently with the design of covering
a landing of troops in that part of the island of New York.
From this post, along the west side of Haerlem river, to Colonel
Roger Morris's house, a distance of not less than a mile and
a-half, there were no troops posted either for observation or
defence.
" About a mile below Morris's house, two lines, nearly parallel
to each other, were constructed by General Washingtok,
when the army retired to the upper part of the island^ after the
evacuation of New York. These lines extended from the vici-
nity of Haerlem river, across the island, to the North river, and
were in length, each about a mile. The first line, towards
New Ywk, intersected the great road leading to King's-bridge,
after the height is ascended from Haerlem plains: It was a
slight intrenchment, with a few weak bastions, without platforms
for cannon, and furnished with no other ordnance than a few
old iron pieces of small caliber, scarcely fit for use, and an iron
six pounder mounted on trucks. The second line was stronger,
both from the nature of the ground, which afforded small emi-
nences for bastions closed in the rear, and from having the in-
tervals between the bastions strongly picketed. These lines
were defensive works for the whole American army. The first
Kne seemed calculated^ rather for retarding the approach of the
enemy, than as a seriously defensive work ; k being nothing
more (with the exception of the bastions) than a shallow ditch,
with the earth thrown outwards. The second line was formed
at a proper distance from- the first, so as to protect the latter by
musketry as well as cannon, and to drive out the enemy, should
he get possession of it: but this second line, on the day of the
attack of Fort Washington, was from necessity, wholly without
defence, either of troops, or artillery of any description.
^^ A summons having been sent by General Howe, on the day
preceding the attack, to Colonel Magaw, to surrender the fort ;
ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. 199
aod having met with a spirited refusal, the attack on the fort^
and the posts connected with it, was expected, and actually
took place on the following day. Colonel Magaw, who eom-
manded on the island, remained in the fort; Colonel Rawlings,
with his regiment of riflemen, was posted on the rear of Mount
Washington ; Colonel Baxter, with his regiment of militia, on
Haerlem river, opposite Fort Washington ; and Colonel Lambert
Cadwalader, at the first line, about two and a half miles from
the fort, with about eight hundred men, including a reinforce-
ment of a hundred militia sent him, about ten or eleven o'clock
in the morning,
" The operations of the enemy were announced eariy in the
morning, by a cannonade on Colonel Rawlings' position, and a
distant one, from the heights of Morrisania, on the line occupied
by Colonel Cadwalader ; the former with the view of facilitating
the attack on that point, by three thousand Hessians ; the latter,
to favour the approach of Lord Percy, with one thousand six
hundred men.
"At ten o'clock in the morning, a large body of the enemy
appeared on Haerlem plains, preceded by their field pieces, and
advanced with their whole body, towards a rocky point of the
height, which skirted the plains in a southern direction from the
first line, and at a considerable distance from it — and, commencing
a brisk fire on the small work constructed there, drove out the
party which held it, consisting of twenty men, and took posses-
sion of it : the men retiring with the picket guard to the first line.
The enemy, having gained the heights, advanced in column, on
open groiMid, towards the first line ; whilst a party of their troops
pushed forward, and took possession of a small unoccupied work
in fix)nt of the first line ; from whence they opened their fire with
some field pieces and a howitzer, upon the line, but without
effect. When the column came within proper distance, a fire
from the six-pounder was directed against it; on which, the
whole column inclined to their left, and took post behind a piece
of woods, where they remained. As it was suspected that they
would make an attempt on the right of the line, under cover of
the w^ood, that part was strengthened.
"Things remained in this position for about an hour and a
SOO ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE.
half, during which interval, General Washington, with Generals
Putnam, Greene, Mercer, and other principal officers, came over
the North River from Fort Lee, and crossed the island to Morris's
house ; whence they viewed the position of our troops, and the
operations of the enemy in that quarter. Having remained there
a sufficient time to observe the arrangement that had been made
for the defence of that part of the island, they retired by the way
they came, and returned to Fort Lee, without making any change
in the disposition of the troops, or communicating any new
orders. It is a fact, not generally known, that the British troops
took possession of the very spot on which the Commander-in-
chief, and the general officers with him, had stood, in fifteen
minutes after they left it.
'< Colonel Rawlings was some time late in the morning attacked
by the Hessians, whom he fought with great gallantry and efiect,
as they were climbing the heights ; until the arms of the riflemen
became useless from the foulness they contracted from the fre-
quent repetition of their fire. From this incident, and the great
superiority of the enemy. Colonel Rawlings was obliged to retire
into the fort. The enemy having gained the heights, imme-
diately pushed forward towards the fort, and took post behind a
large store-house, within a small distance of it.
^^But to return to what passed at the first line towards New
York. Intelligence having been received by Colonel Cadwala-
der, that the enemy were coming down Haerlem river in boats,
to land in his rear, he detached Captain Lenox with fifty men, to
oppose them, and, on farther information, a hundred more, with
Captains Edwards and Tudor.* This force, with the addition of
about the same number from Fort Washington, arrived on the
heights near Morris's house, early enough to fiire on the enemy in
their boats,f which was done with such effect,, that about ninety
were killed and wounded. The great superiority, however, of the
* The subalterns under Captain Lenox, wer» LientenaBts IiAWtmoB and
TiLTON, and Ensi^ M^Intike— »tbe others are unknown.
t This body from the Fort, from the testimony of an eye witness, and by per-
mission of the gentleman who furnishes the account, I am authorized to state,
did not arrive so early ; neither was it engagtd* It consisted of the Flying
Camp, and could not be brought intaactioi^
ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. 201
enemy, (their numbers amounting to about eight hundred men,)
prevailed over the bravery and good conduct of our troops, who,
with some loss retired to Fort Washington.
" This body of the enemy immediately advanced, and took pos-
session of the grounds in advance of, and a little below Morris's
house, where some soldiers' huts had been left standing, not far
from the second line. This position of the enemy being ob-
served, it was expected they would march down and take pos-
session of the second line, (which from the want of men, was
entirely without defence,) and thereby place the troops in the first
line, between two fires. This important movement did not, how-
ever, take place ; owing, as was afterwards learned, to the appre-
hension they entertained, that the enclosed bastions concealed
therein a number of men, whose fire would greatly annoy them.
They hesitated ; — and this being perceived, fi-om the delay that
took place. Colonel Cadwalader, to avoid the fatal consequences
that must have resulted from the expected movement, immediately
resolved to retire to the fort, with the troops under his command ;
and as the measure required promptness and activity, he sent
orders to the right and left of the line, to move off towards Fort
Washington, on the signal being given ; which, after a proper
interval of time, being made, the whole was put in motion, (those
on the left retiring obliquely towards the centre of the second
line,) passed the second line and when they came opposite to
the body of the enemy posted at the huts, received their fire,
which was returned in an irregular manner ; and, pursuing the
road which led to the fort, under the heights by the North river,
arrived there with little or no loss.
" The militia under Colonel Baxter, posted on Haerlem river,
were attacked by the British guards and light infantry, who
landed on the island of New York, protected by the fire from the
work on the heights on the opposite side of the river. A short
contest ensued ; but our troops, overpowered by numbers, and
leaving behind them Colonel Baxter, who was killed by a British
oflScer as he was bravely encouraging his men, retired to the
fort. The guards and light infantry, then crossed the island to
the heights on the North river, a little below the fort, under
202 ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE.
which Colonel Cadwalader with his party, but a few minutes be-
fore, had passed, in his way to the fort."*
* General Wilkinson says, ^ I coDversed with. General Greene, respecting the
afiair at Fort Washington, who was chiefly blamed for attempting to hold ths
place, and I recollect well, he observed, * I wonld to God we had had ten tboufind
men there/ Ho was of opinion the ground was tenable, and that it was lost by
the insufficiency of our force, and I am inclined to the same opinion.**— JVeaUn
vol, 1.— Ed.
author's pebilous situation. 203
CHAPTER VIU.
The Author a Priaonw.— Coadnct of BritUh Officers and Soldiers.— The Author's
Treatment— State of Prisoners. — Visits to Prisoners.— Treatment—Major
Maitland. — Reflections. — Americans and English contrasted.— Character of
General Howe. — Killed and Wounded. — Character of Mr. Becket — Humanity
of British Officers. — March of Prisoners to New York. — Occurrences on the
Road^ — Generosity of a Highlander.— Disposal of Prisoners. — Officers* Quar-
ters.— Baggage Restored^ — Author appears in Regimentals. — ^Reflections.
Thesi: things, or the greater part of them, had probably passed
before I had abandoned my station, taken as already mentioned,
in pursuance of orders for strnegthening the right. The line of
entrenchment was too extensive to be manned without leaving
intervals. Some of these were large, and intervening hillocks cut
ofifthe communication in some parts; otherwise, the whole of us
under the command of Colonel Cadwalader must have retreated
at the same time. The first notice that I had of the entrenchment
being given up, was from an officer I did not know, posted at
some distance from me, going off with his men. I called to him
to know what he meant. He answered, that he was making the
best of his way to the fort, as the rest of the troops had retreated
long since. As I had no reason to doubt his veracity, I imme-
diately formed my company, and began to retire in good order,
which is more than I can say of my neighbour or his corps; and
amidst all the chagrin, I afterwards felt, that the events of the
day had been so unpropitious to our glory, I had the satisfaction
to reflect, that the men were always obedient, and ready to par-
take of any danger their officers would share with them. This,
however, was but matter of inference; since I never was at-
tacked, though continually fronted by a strong force, and incom-
moded by their ordnance, though without being injured by it.
After proceeding some hundred paces I reflected that I had no
204 AUTHOR TAKEN PRISONEB.
orders Tor what I was doing ; and that, although I had oo right
to expect exactness, in a moment of such pressure, it was yet
possible my movement migl)t be premature. I knew nothing of
what had passed in the centre, or of the enemy being master of
the high grounds in my rear about Colonel Morris's house, from
which, no doubt, had proceeded the cannon balls that whizzed
by us; and for which, coming in that direction,.! could not ac-
count. To be entirely correct in my conduct, I here halted my
men, and went myself to a rising ground at some distance, from
which I might have a view of the lines where Colonel Cadwala-
der had been posted. They seemed thoroughly manned; and
at the instant, I beckoned to the officers to march back the com-
pany, which they immediately put in motion; but looking more
attentively, I perceived that the people I saw, were British and
Hessian troops that were eagerly pressing forward. Upon this,
I hastened back to my party, and as there was no time to be
lost, being in a situation to be cut to pieces by a corps of ca-
valry, I ordered them under the command of my ensign, to make
the best of their way and join the body of men, which none
doubted being our own, on the heights beyond the inner lines;
and that I would follow them as fast as I could, for I was a good
deal out of breath with the expedition, I had used in going to
and returning from the ground, which gave me a view of the
outer lines. I accordingly walked on, accompanied by Forrest
who did not choose to leave me alone. Edwards was not with
me, having been promoted to the command of a company and
employed as already mentioned. The body I had pointed to and
directed my company to join, under the idea of their being our
own men, turned out to be the British, consisting of Colonel
Stirling's divisions of Highlanders, a circumstance that was not
at first perceived on account of the distance ; nor, owing to the
smoke of an irregular fire which they kept up, and the entrench-
ment in which they were posted, covering them to the breast,
was it manifest until we got pretty near them. Upon this dis-
covery, we held a moment's consultation, and the result was,
that hemmed in as we were on every side, there was no chance
of escaping; and that there was nothing lefl but to give our-
selves up to them. Had we been aware, at first, of their being
BIS SUBSEQX7ENT T&£ATMENT. 205
the enemy, we might have eluded them by shaping our way
along the shore of the Hudson, as my men, soon discovering who
they were, had done ; but in full confidence that they were our
people, I bent my course in the opposite direction to the main
body, in the view of meeting Colonel Cadwalader there, and
taking his farther orders. Thus circumstanced, we clubbed our
fusees in token of surrender, and continued to advance towards
them. They either did not or would not take the signal ; and
though there were but two of us, from whom they could not pos-
sibly expect a design to attack, they did not cease firing at us.
I may venture to say, that not less than ten guns were discharged
with their muzzles towards us, within the distance of forty or
fifty yards; and I might be nearer the truth in saying, that some
were let off within twenty. Luckily for us, it was not our rifle-
men to whom we ilirere targets ; and it is astonishing how even
these blunt shooters could have missed us. But as we were
ascending a considerable hill, they shot over us. I observed
they took no aim, and that the moment of presenting and firing,
was the same. As I had full leisure for reflection, and was per-
fectly collected, though fearful that their design was to give no
quarter, I took off my hat with such a sweep of the arm as could
not but be observed, without ceasing however to advance.
This had the intended effect: A loud voice proceeded from the
breast-work, and the firing immediately ceased. An oflicer of
the forty -second regiment advanced towards us; and as I was
foremost, he civilly accosted me by asking me my rank. Being
informed of this, as also of Forrest's, he inquired where the fort
lay and where Colonel Magaw was. I pointed in the direction
of the fort, and told him I had not seen Colonel Magaw during
the day. Upon this, he put us under the care of a sergeant and
a few men, and left us. The sergeant was a decent looking
man, who, on taking us into custody, bestowed upon us in broad
Scotch the friendly admonition, of Young tnen^ ye should never
fight against your king. The little bustle produced by our sur-
render, was scarcely over, when a British officer on horseback,
apparently of high rank, rode up at full gallop, exclaiming,
What ! taking prisoners ! Kill them^ kill every man of them. My
back was towards him when be spoke ; and although by this
18
206 HIS SUBSEQUENT TREATBf3NT.
time, there was none of that appearance of ferocity in the guard,
which would induce much fear, that they would execute his
command, I yet thought it well enough to parry it, and turning
to him, I took off my hat, saying. Sir J put myself under your
protection. No man was ever more .effectually rebuked. His
manner was instantly softened : He met my salutation with an
inclination of his body, and after a civil question or two, as if to
make amends for his sanguinary mandate, he rode off towards
the fort, to which he had inquired the way.
Though I had delivered up my arms, I had not adverted to a
cartouch box which I wore about my waist, and which, having
once belonged to his Britannic Majesty, presented in front, the
gilded letters G. R. Exasperated at this trophy on the body of
a rebel, one of the soldiers seized the belt with great yiolence,
and in the attempt to unbuckle it, had nearly jerked me off my
legs. To appease the offended loyalty of the honest Scot, I
submissively took it off and delivered it to him, being conscious
that I bad no longer any right to it. At this time a Hessian came
up. He was not a private, neither did he look like a regular
officer: He was some retainer, however, to the German troops;
and was as much of a brute as any one I have ever seen in the
human form. The wretfch came near enough to elbow us; and
half unsheathing his sword, with a countenance that bespoke a
most vehement desire to use it upon us, he grinned out in broken
English, Ehy you rebel, you dam rebel ! I had by this time entire
confidence in our Scotchmen; and therefore regarded the caitiff
with the same indifference, that I should have viewed a caged
wild beast, though with much greater abhorrence.
These transactions which occupied about ten minutes, passed
upon the spot on which we were taken, whence we were marched
to an old stable or out house, where we found about forty or fifty
prisoners already collected, principally officers, of whom I only
particularly recollect Lieutenant Brodhead of our battalion. We
remained on the outside of the building; and for nearly an hour,
sustained a series of most intolerable abuse. This chiefly pro*
ceeded from the oflScers of the light infantry ; for the most part,
young and insolent puppies, whose worthlessness was apparently
their recommendation to a service, which placed them in the
STATE OF PRISONERS. 207
post of danger, and in the way of becoming food for powder,
their most appropriate destination next to that of the gallows.
The term rebel, with the ephithet damned before it, was the
mildest we received. We were twenty times told, sometimes
with a taunting affectation of concern, that we should every man
of us be hanged ; and were nearly as many times paraded with
the most inconceivable insolence, for the purpose of ascertaining
whether there were not some deserters among us; and these were
always sought for among the officers, as if the lowest fellow in
their army was fit for any post in ours. ''There's a fellow," an
upstart Cockney would exclaim, " that I could swear was a de-
serter." "What countrymen, are you sir? Did you not belong
to such a regiment?" — I was not indeed challenged for a deserter ;
but the indignity of being ordered about by such contemptible
whipsters, for a moment unmanned me, and I was obliged to
apply my handkerchief to my eyes. This was the first time in
my life, that I had been the victim of brutal, cowardly oppression ;
and I was unequal to the shock ; but my elasticity of mind was
soon restored, and I viewed it with the indignant contempt it
deserved.
For the greater convenience of guarding us, we were removed
from this place, to the barn of Colonel Morris's house, already
mentioned, which had been the head quarters of our army, as it
now was of the royal one. This was the great bank of deposit
for prisoners taken out of the fort; and already pretty well filled.
It was a good new building and we were ushered into it among the
rest, the whole body consisting of from a hundred and fifty, to
two hundred, composing a motley group to be sure. Here were
men and officers of all descriptions, regulars and militia, troops
continental and state, some in uniforms, some without them, and
some in hunting shirts, the mortal aversion of a red coat. Some
of the oflScers had been plundered of their hats and some of their
coats; and upon the new society into which we were introduced,
with whom a showy.exterior was all in all, we were certainly not
calculated to make a very favourable impression. I found Cap«
tain Tudor here, of our regiment, who, if I mistake not, had lost
his hat. It was here also that not long afler I saw Ensign Sted«>
diford of our regiment at a little distance, at large, and in close
conference with Major Skene. So friendly an intercourse be«
208 VISIT TO PRISONERS.
tween a British officer and a rebel was so strikingly in contrast
to the general insolence I had received and was still treated with,
that it baffled every hypothesis I could frame to account for it
But it was afterwards explained by Steddiford. The ganison
had capitulated; and Skene being desirous to walk to this part
of the field, had proposed to Steddiford to accompany him, ob-
serving with the frankness and circumspection of an old soldier,
that each would be a safeguard to the other. ^^I," says he,
"shall protect you from our men, and you will protect me from
yours, should there be any of either lurking in the woods, and
disposed to hostility." Shortly after, it was announced by an
huzza, that the fort had surrendered. This, I think, was about
two o'clock.
The officer who commanded the guard in whose custody we
now were, was an ill-looking, low-bred fellow of this dashing
corps of light infantry. Had dates accorded, he might have been
supposed the identical scoundrel that had sat for the portrait of
Northerton, in Fielding's Tom Jones. As I stood as near as
possible to the door for the sake of air, the enclosure in which
we were being extremely crowded and unpleasant, I was particu*
larly exposed to his brutality; and repelling with some severity,
one of his attacks, for I was becoming desperate and careless of
safety, the ruffian exclaimed, Jfot a wordy sir^ or drnnme PU give
you my butty at the same time clubbing his fusee and drawing it
back as if to give the blow. I fully expected it, but he con-
tented himself with the threat. I observed to him that I was in
his power, and disposed to submit to it, though not proof against
every provocation.
As to see the prisoners was a matter of some curiosity, we
were complimented with a continual succession of visitants,
consisting of officers of the British army. There were several of
these present, when a Serjeant-Major came to take an account of
us; and particularly, a list of such of us as were officers. This
sergeant, thou^ not uncivil, had all that animated, degage impu-
dence of air, which belongs to a self-complacent non-commis-
sioned officer of the most arrogant army in the world; and with
his pen in his hand and his paper on his knee, applied to each of
us, in turn, for his rank. He had just set mine down, ii^en he
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. 209
came to a little squat, militia officer from York county, who,
somewhat to the deterioration of his appearance, had substituted
the dirty crown of an old hat, for a plunder-worthy beaver that
had been taken from him by a Hessian. He was known to be
an officer from having been assembled among us, for the purpose
of enumeration. You are an officer y sir! said the sergeant; Fes,
was the answer. Your rank, sir ! with a significant smile. I am
a keppuTiy replied the little man in a chuff, firm tone. Upon this,
there was an immoderate roar of laughter among the officers about
the door, who were attending to the process ; and I am not sure,
I did not laugh myself. When it had subsided, one of them ad-
dressmg himself to me, observed with a compliment that had much
more of sour than sweet in it, that he was really astonished I should
have taken any thing less than a regiment* To remove as much
as possible the sting of this sarcastic thrust at our service, for I
must confess I was not sufficiently republican, to be insensible of
its force, I told him, that the person who had produced their mer-
riment, belonged to the militia, and that in his line as a farmer^
he was no doubt honest and respectable.
Although the day was seasonably cool, yet from the number
crowded in the barn, the air within was oppressive and suffo-
cating, which, in additon to the agitations of the day, had pro-
duced an excessive thirst; and there was a continual cry for
water. I cannot say that this want was unattended to: the
soldiers were continually administering to it by bringing water
in a bucket. But though we, who were about the door, did
well enough, the supply was very inadequate to such a number
of mouths; and many must have suffered much. Our situation
brought to my recollection that of Captain Hoi well and his party, in
the black hole at Calcutta ; and had the weather been equally hot,
we should not have been much better off. The fellow who had
menaced me with his butt, stood with his fusee across the door,
and kept us closely immured. I did not choose to ask favours of
him; but addressing myself to the officers without the door, who
had been put in good humour by their laugh at our poor militia
captain, I asked them, if they made no distinction between
officers and privates. Most certainly we do, said one of them.
I then observed, that it would be very agreeable to ua to be
18»
2 1 0 MAJOR M AITLAND.
somewhat separated from them now, and to receive a little fresh
air. Upon this, the sentinels were withdrawn to the distance of
about ten or twelve feet from the building ; and we were told,
that such of us as were officers might walk before the door.
This was a great relief to us, as well as to the men in giving
them more room.
As I was walking here, a gentleman, who I was afterwards
informed was Major Maitland, of the 71st, I think, came up and
entered into conversation with me. He had one arm in a sling,
and it appeared to me, he had lost a hand. He regretted the
extremes to which matters had been carried, and touched upon
our infatuation, as he termed it, in attempting resistance to the
power of Britain. He assumed the unqualified justness of her
cause, and the consequent unjustness of ours; and adverting to
the day's business, he observed, that I must be aware, that as
we were taken by storm (speaking of myself and the other
prisoners here colfected) our lives were forfeited by the laws of
war, and that we might have been put to the sword, without
any just impeachment of their humanity; but such, added he, is
the clemency of the British nation, that we have not availed
ourselves of the right, but shall, on the contrary, treat you with
every indulgence. This was delivered in the tone of a lecture
which precludes the necessity of a reply. Accordingly, I gave
it none ; and as the manner was mild and well intended withal,
I received it in good part: as civility was a rarity, the value of
this atteation was proportionably enhanced and duly appreciated.
The Major confirmed to me the surrender of the fort, which I
had at first doubted, though I can hardly tell why. I certainly
never had the expectation that it could have held out long : and
I cannot here forbear remarking, that its incapacity for defence,
is unequivocally recognised by General Washington in his
official letter to Congress. ^^ I sent," says he, '* a billet to
Colonel Magaw, directing him to hold out, and I would en-
deavour in the evening to bring off the garrison if the fortress
could not be maintained, as I did not expect it could, the enemy
being possessed of the adjacent graund,^^ Now, had the attempt
been to defend the fort alone, instead of its environs, which had
constituted the post of the main army, this effect of the enemy's
KEFLECTIONS. 211
possessing the adjacent ground, would at once have taken place ;
and the fort have been untenable. The fort then, was not cal-
culated upon as the point to be defended ; but it was the posi-
tion in the open field. Hence, we were improperly termed a
garrison ; and two thousand men, of which half were militia,
were pitted against the whole of the British army. For seven
thousand troops were actually employed in the attack, and the
rest ready to support them. It was certainly enough then, that
we fought them and withstood their efforts until noon. Because
posts had been evacuated ; because Long Island, New York,
King^s-bridge and White Plains had successively been found
untenable by the concentred force of the continent, this handful
was to apologize to the country, for the supposed disgrace of our
armsy and the defective constitution of our military system. As
*^ the troops were in high spirits and would make a good de*
fence,* why e'en let these southern men," says Generals Put-
nam and Greene, " take the glory of it to themselves: Whatever
be their fate, they will kill a good number of the enemy ; and
desperate expedients are adapted to the declining state of our
cause." These, it b true, were dashing counsels : nevertheless,
to those acquainted with the unfriendly, repulsive temper which
prevailed between the southern and eastern troops, and the
selfish clannish spirit, testified on all occasions by the latter,t
there would be nothing very revolting in the imputation of such
motives ; in which also, the historian in the Annual Register,
might find a clew to the solution of the enigma, why an opera-
tion on so large a scale, should have been committed to but a
Colonel. It was, at any rate, a current opinion among us who
were taken, that we bad been sacrificed to selfish feeling; nor
upon a cool consideration of all the circumstances, after a lapse
of four and thirty years, can I see full cause to renounce that
opinion. I do not believe, at least, that if we had been New
England men, we should have been left there. If Greene really
knew no better at this era, he was deeply instructed by his error ;
* See General WAMmmrron^a letter, abore alluded to, which shows that the
defence or eracnation of the post, rested on the discretion of General Geune.
t One instance of it, was a partial exchange of prisoners, eontinQally carried
on in &?oar of the eastern officers^ to the era^ disoooragemeal of the southern.
212 REFLECTIONS — GENERAL GREENE.
since, whatever were the characters of his subsequent general*
ship, it never disclosed symptoms of rash audacity.*
But I must not forget I am a captive. Among the events
of the afternoon was the meeting with a captain Wilson, of the
light infantry, who called to inquire, whether there were any
gentlemen among us from Philadelphia. Upon telling him that
I was, he asked me if I knew Mr. Philip Wilson, a merchant
of that city. I told him I had a slight acquaintance with him,
as also with his brother Edward. " They are both," says he,
" brothers of mine, and though I detest iheir principles," he was
obliged perhaps to go farther on this point than a refined polite-
ness might warrant, on account of his brother officers and soldiers
standing by, '^I shall be happy to render you every service in
my power." He then minuted my name and rank on his tablets,
as he did Tudor's, for the same reason of knowing his brothers ;
and told us, he would do himself the pleasure of calling upon
us in New York. He informed us, also, that he had seen Major
West, Captain Lenox, I think, and some others of our friends at
the fort, who had been inquiring for us. During the remainder of
* Oar author, a^in alludes with conBiderable bitternesa, to General Grkwi
apparently entertaining an opinion derogatory to his ability, and character a
a military man. Posterity has already assigned to this truly great man, his
just position, by the side of Washinoton. In 1786, Alizanobr Hamilton, pro-
nounced a Eulogium on General GaccMX, before tlie society of the Cincinnati,
at New York. It is but just, that the deliberate opinion of so competent a
judge, should accompany that of the respectable and ettimable author of the
i* MEHOias***
**So long as the measures, which conducted us s&iely through the first, and
most critical stages of the war, shall be remembered with approbation ; so long
as the enterprises of Trenton and Princeton, shall be regarded as the dawnings
of that bright day, which, afterwards broke forth with such resplendent lustre,
to long, as the almost magic operations of the remainder of that remarkable
winter, distinguished, not more by these events, than by the extraordinary spec-
tacle of a powerful army, straightened within narrow limits, by the phantom of
a military force, and never permitted to transgress those limits with impunity,
in which skill supplied the place of means, and disposition was the substitute lor
an army ;'So long, I say, as these operations shall continue to be the object of
wonder, so long ought the name of Grvbnx, to be revered by a grateful country.
To attribute to him a portion of the praise, which is due as well to the fbrouttion
as to the execution of the plans, that effected these important ends, can be no
derogation from that wisdom and magnanimity, which knew how to aeleclv and
embrace counsels worthy of being partued.**— En..
KIND TREATMENT OF THE AUTHOR. 213
the day, if I except a sight of General Howe, who was pointed
out to me at a little distance, and the burning of a pretty large
brick house hard by, which happened, as the soldiers told us,
through the carelessness of some grenadiers in cooking beef
steaks, nothing occurred of any consequence : but in the evening
a most advantageous change took place, and from the custody
of a low ruflSan, we were transferred to that of a gentleman.
This was Lieutenant Becket, to the best of my recollection of
the 27th or 37th regiment. Upon taking the guard in the even-
ing, he expressed concern about our lodging, and proposed to us
to accompany him into the bam-loft to see whether that would
do. He was also attended by some of his brother officers. We
ascended by a very good step ladder, and found a spacious room,
well roofed and floored and clear of lumber. "This, gentlemen,
I think may do," said he; "I daresay, you have sometimes lodged
in a worse place." That we had, we told him, and that this was
as comfortable as we could desire. " I will send you, if I can,"
said he, at going away, " a bottle of wine : but at any rate, a bottle
of spirits," andas to the latter, be was as good as his word ; a sol-
dier, in about a quarter of an hour brought it to us, and this was
our substitute for supper as well as dinner. In the morning, a
little after sunrise, a soldier brought me Mr. Becket's compli-
ments with a request that I would come down and breakfast with
him, bringing two of my friends with me, as he had not the means
of entertaining more. I thankfully accepted his invitation, and
took with me Forrest and Tudor. He was seated on a bench
before the door with a good fire before him, and the soldiers of
the guard in a semicircle about him. Besides the bench we were
accommodated with a chair or two, and he gave us a dish of very
good cofTee with plenty of excellent toast, which was the only
morsel we had eaten for the last twenty-four hours ; more fortu-
nate in this than our fellow sufierers, who got nothing until the
next morning, when the first provisions were drawn' The sol-
diers were chatting and cracking their jokes on each other while
we breakfasted ; and I was surprised at the easy familiarity which
seemed to prevail between them and their officer. But it ap-
peared to be perfectly understood between them, that their cote-
ries, though so near each other, as that every word from either
214 AMERICAN AND ENGLISH CONTRASTED.
might be heard by both, were yet entirely distinct^ and that each
had an exclusive right to its own conversation: still they did not
interrupt ours, being silent when we talked. The fact was, that
Mr. Becket was the darling of his soldiers ; and one of them told
us, that we should find few men like him. I had here an oppor-
tunity to observe, the striking difierence between their appoint-
ments and ours. While our poor fellows, were some of them
already ragged, and even the best of them, clad in flimsy, thread-
bare clothes, with worse stockings and shoes, these were tight
and comfortable in body and limbs ; and every soldier was ac-
commodated with a woollen night cap, which most of them had
yet on. A sad contrast for the contemplation of the American
soldier ! Wisdom is no less attributable to nations than to indi-
viduals ; and the British army, if I may so express myself, is a
sensible establishment, in which every possible regard is had to
both comfort and safety. Though, in extremities, it may be the
business of the soldier to die, it is not forgotten, that he is to live
if he can, consistent with his duty; and to this consideration, it
appears to me, much attention was paid by General Howe in his
operations against our post. He could not have had a doubt
that his attack would be successful, yet this was not enough : it
must be conducted with an eye to the saving of men, and the
purchasing it as cheap as possible. Had he immediately ad-
vanced against our lines on the south, the loss of the British
troops, would, in all probability, have been heavy; whereas, in
making his principal efibrt by Haerlem river under cover of his
batteries, it was comparatively small : and when he had gained
the high grounds in this quarter, he was at once master of the
field.
It has been said, that we could not have chosen a better ad-
versary than General Howe;* and it is not improbable that one
* Such, at least, was the opinioa generally enteitalDed in England. Waliolb,
whu certainly
*^ knew not how to epare,
Tet teldom judged unjustly,**
is not sparing of Att opinions. He writes to Horace lifann, 7th July, 1778,
** General Howe is returned, richer in money than laurels.**
Weaxau,*s opinion of the Hown has already been quoted.— Ed.
CHA&ACTER OF GENEBAL HOWE. 215
more enterprising and less methodical, might have poshed us
harder: Yet, though he was indolent, often treated us with unne-
cessary respect ; and, in a too great security of his prey, might
have meant to play us, as an angler plays a fish upon his hook,
I am still inclined to think, that when he acted, he fought his
army to advantage ; that his dispositions were good, and planned
with much discretion. General Burgoyne hears testimony to the
faultless propriety of his disposition at Bunker's HOI, and (Jene-
ral Lee says, that " in the capacity of an executive soldier, he
was all fire and activity, brave and cool as Julius CaBsar." In
the afiair of Fort Washington, he must have had a perfect know*
ledge of the ground we occupied. This he might have acquired
from hundreds in New York ; but he might have been more tho-
roughly informed of every thing desirable to be known, fi-om one
Dement,* an ofiicer of Magaw's battalion. Who was intelligent in
points of duty, and deserted to the enemy, about a week before
the assault. This man was probably an emissary firom them ; he
was an European, I recollect, and not originally an ofiicer of the
corps ; his name, at least, is not among those appointed by the
committee of safety.
Our situation under Mr. Beckett was as agreeable as it could
be made. The term rebel was entirely banished from our hear-
ing. When speaking of the belligerents, it was your people and
our people, and the manners of all about him, took the tone he
gave. His acquaintance too, seemed of an order wholly different
from the rakehells we had seen yesterday ; nor do I recollect a
single instance of incivility to any one of us, while under his
care. But notwithstandmg this, my heart was ill at ease. It was
* This man's name once helped me to a tolerable pan, and as this species of
wit is often detailed by Mr. Bos well in his Life of Johnson, it is hoped that this
single instance may be tolerated here. He was a coarse, ill-looking fellow ; and
it being reported in New York, after we were taken, that a Miss A , a very
pretty, delicate girl, who had resided at Morrisania, coontenanced him as her
lover. Doctor MoHsNaT was expressing his astonishment at it, when I repeated
to him the adag^— Qnos deus vult perdere, prins demeniaL*^^Note 6y Mr, Gray*
ion.
The reader wiU pardon this, in consideration of the classic character and pro-
penalties of oar learned ^n-dit; but it must be the last trial, at least in this
manner, of hii forbearance !-»Eo.
216 KILLED AND WOUNDED.
the prey of chagrin and - a most afflicting uncertainty. I was
deeply mortified at the ideai that we were disgraced in the eyes
of our countrymen, with whom the belief was current, that Fort
Washington was impregnable ; and the events of the action had
been, moreover, peculiarly unpropitious to the fame of the conti-
nental battalions from Pennsylvania. All the glory that was
going, had, in my idea of what had passed, been engrossed by
the regiment of Rawlings, which had been actively engaged, killed
a number of the enemy, and lost many themselves ; and althou{^
it seldom, if ever, happens, that there is close fighting in eveiy
part of a field, yet it is this alone which obtains eclaty or, that in
the view of the world, escapes contempt. As to the merit of
preserving a good countenance ; being firm in a post ; and only
relinquishing it when no longer tenable, or expedient to be re-
tained ; it can only be appreciated by persons of militaiy expe-
rience : It is at best, but of a negative kind, and has nothing in
it of briUiancy.* How many did they kill ? How many did they
lose ? are the questions which produce the data on which martial
fame is calculated ; and these were much against us. The num-
ber of British killed, by General Howe's account, was not large ;
and the whole loss is fixed by Mr. Stedman at eight hundred, by
much the greater part of which was sustained by the Hessians,
who attacked Rawlings, in a post extremely difficult of access,
naturally, and rendered still more so by works and abbatis. In
the two battalions of Cadwalader and Magaw, there were but two
or three officers wounded, and one killed, or rather reputed killed,
as I have recently understood that he survived his wounds, though
very grievous, and was some years after living at Germantown.
This was Captain Miller, who, as already mentioned, was going
to shoot a sentinel on Montezores island. Among the wounded,
was Captain Lenox, very slightly, and Ensign M^Intire, badly.
As to myself, I was conscious I had done my duty, but this must
* I was Dot aware at this time, that detaehmenU from oor reftmenia had
maintained a conteat which entitled them to the praiae of the enemy ; fer bf the
oooeurrent testimony of General Howe, and the historian, Mr. Stedman, the.
ground on which they fought was obstinately defended : and I have atill so much
of the tiprit in earpt and pride ofa soldier abont me, as to be gratified by the
circnmstanoe.
KILLED AND WOUNDED. 217
remain unknown ; and I was unable to put aside the reflection,
flat we were both sacrificed and disgraced ; captive to an enemy,
whose system it was to treat us with contempt ; to stigmatize us
as rebels and load us with opprobrium; and that all this was,
probably, but a prelude to the impending ruin and subjugation of
my country. In addition to these dismaying considerations, I
thought my brother killed. I had intelligence from the fort, that he
was not there ; neither had any one se'en him after he had left the
intrenchments; though it was suggested, that a boat-^load of the
g|arrison that had been hard pressed, had got over to Fort Lee,
and that he might have been in it. There was also room to
hope, that if not among these, (admitting the circumstance of the
boats having gone over to be true,) he might be at the village of
Haerlem, in which, it was said, there was a small collection of
prisoners. Being impatient to satisfy myself, and know the worst,
I applied to Mr. Becket, for permission, if not improper, to go
to Haerlem ; and if not successful there, to traverse the field of
action. He granted my request without hesitation ; but observed,
it was proper I should have a soldier with me, to protect me and
account for my bemg at large ; and had he not been too polite,
he might have added, to guard me, which, it would have been a
neglect of duty in him, not to have attended to. I went to Haer-
lem, but received no satisfaction. There were, indeed, some
prisoners there, in the custody of the German troops ; but they
had neither seen my brother, nor heard any thing of him. I then
returned, and took my course, with my attendant, along the banks
of Haeriem river, where the action had been warm. Within a
few hundred yards of the barn in which we were quartered, I
met with the bodies of three or four soldiers of our battalion,
who had fallen by musket-balls ; but obtained nothing in regard
to the object of my pursuit* Weary of the melancholy errand,
and reflecting that the day would be insufficient to complete the
search, I gave it up with a determination to look as much as pos-
sible on the favourable side of things, and wait in patience for
the event. Some time after, Mr. Becket, who took a friendly
interest in the cause of my distress, applied to a gentleman on
horseback, who had superintended the interment of the dead,
to know whether he had met with the body of an officer in the
19
218 CHARACTEK OF MB. BECKWITH.
uniform I wore, as I was anxious for the fate of a brother, whcr
was missing. With much delicacy, addressing himself to me, he
replied : "No sir, we buried no one with linen fine enough to have
been your brother." , This information, though not conclusive, wa»
encouraging : and the liberality of our present treatment, added
to the fineness of the morning, though pretty ^aip, gave a fillip
to my spirits, and a more pleasing turn to my thoughts. The sun
looked vastly brighter to my eyes than it had done an hour before,
and I began to flatter myself fliat niatters might not be so bad,
as in a desponding moment I had supposed ; that ere long we
should be exchanged, and have an opportunity of retrieving the
disgrace of our recent discomfiture. In this firame of mind, con-
versation took a more cheerful course, and I satisfied some of Mr.
Becket^s inquiries respecting our afiairs. He was particularly
inquisitive as to the character of General Washington, of whom,
from misrepresentations, no doubt propagated for political pur-
poses, he had received some very erroneous impressions. Ap-
pearing to think favourably of him as a soldier, and as to the ex-
terior qualifications of a gentleman, he had yet understood, that
he was a man of desperate fortune, who, having wasted his own
pfroperty, had also dissipated that of his wife^ by play, and had
how no resource but in war and confusion. I assured him that
nothing could be farther fi-om the truth than this idea ; and left
him, i believe, convinced of his error. Though he spoke with
much moderation of the contest, the merits of which were but
glanced at, he seemed to entertain no doubts of the justice of the
side on which his profession had placed him, as well as our in-
ability to withstand the power of the mother country. He was
forcibly struck with the ill condition of our troops, ihe badness
of their arms, and insufficiency, in every respect, of our appoint-
ments ; and observed, that a gentleman of our army required
more than an ordinary degree of fortitude to take the field under
such disadvantages.
The distinguished liberality of Mr. Becket's deportment, re-^
quires of me somethmg more than a mere passing remembrance.
If my memory does not much deceive me, he told us he was an
Irishman, and a married man. His figure was pleasing, rather
manly than elegant ; tall, and though not corpulent^ indicative o^
CHAILACTER OF MR. BECKWITH. 219
a temperament inclining to fulness. His face was fine and beamed
\rith candour and benevolence. He might have passed for a man
of twenty-eight or thirty, though he could not well have been less
than thirty-five, having served, as he informed us, in the war of
fifiy-sixy probably in the latter part of it, and it lasted until sixty-
three. He mentioned this circumstance in adverting to the can-
nonade of the preceding day, which he said had far exceeded in
heaviness, any he had ever heard in Germany, or in his life. He
had been long in service, and appeared to be generally known
and respected in the army ; being, indeed, eminently calculated
to be beloved and admired; and so far as I could judge of him
from the acquaintance of a day, he possessed the qualities, which,
with equal power would have made him a Titus, and have given
him a legitimate claim to the designation of delicue humani generis.
The command of the guard, in his mode of exercising the func-
tion, resembled a trust committed to him for our benefit ; and his
conduct bespoke the guardian rather than the jailer.
About noon, a young oflScer, smartly dressed and well mounted,
rode up with his horse in a foam, and pulling out his watch, ob-
served, that he had scarcely been an hour in coming from New
York. He was a genuine, smooth-faced, fresh-coloured English-
man, and from the elegance of his horse, and self-importance of
his manner, I supposed him to be a person of family and con-
sideration. " Becket," said he, looking round him, " this is a
damn'd strong piece of ground — ^ten thousand of our men would
defend it against the world." "I don't know that," returned
Becket ; " the ground, to be sure is strong, in some parts, but
you go too far: I would not undertake its defence against the
world, I assure you." The conversation then passed to other
topics, and the cavalier, afler a few minutes, rode off to exhibit
himself elsewhere. Several other incidents, equally unimportant,
occurred in the course of the day ; but one, that from the sub-
stantial good which attended it at the time, I cannot omit : And
this was, that from the table of General Jones, the officer of the
day, with whom Mr. Becket dined, there came to me about two
o'clock, a plate or small dish of victuals amply supplied. The
contents consisted of two or three slices of corned beef with cab-
220 CIYILITY AND KINDNESS OF BRITISH OFFECEB8.
bage, the leg and wing of a turkey, with bread, &c. in propordoiL
In the language of Lord Kaimes, ^^ could peace afford a sweeter
scene," than was exhibited in the conduct of this kind, generous,
noble-hearted gentleman ! To be admired, it only needs to be
faithfully depicted, and this is all my feeble pencil aims at It
consisted of a series of attentions, as delicate as they were friendly,
of which, the following is an additional instance. In the evening
we were drawn up for the purpose of being marched a part of the
way towards New York. Being formed in the usual manner, in
two ranks, with the officers on the right, in order to be foremost
when faced for the march, our commander took his station in front,
and gaily flourishmg a switch which he held in his hand, with a
kind of apologetic smile for the liberty he wa^ taking with us,
" Come, gentlemen," said he, "we are all soldiers," (combining
us with his own men, enclosing us in two lines ; and who, at the
same time received the word of command,) To the right face;
then giving the word Marchj he good-humouredly walked along
with us, without losing sight, however, of the decorum which
actual duty required. When we had proceeded about half a mile,
we were halted, for the purpose, as I aiterwards found, of relieving
the guard. As we stood here, an officer wrapped up in a camblet
cloak, young and of a very pleasing address^ who had been talking
with Becket, came up to me, observing, that the evening was very
cool, and asked if such weather was usual with us at this season
of the year. I told him it was not unusual in the latter part of
November. After an observation or two on this topic, he ex*
pressed his hope that I had been well treated. As well as possi-
ble, I replied, by some, and as ill by others. " I am extreme^
sorry for it," said he, '* but there are rascals in all services."
Soon after, Mr. Becket* informed us, that he was about to leave
us, telling me that he would make it a point to obtain information
respecting my brother, and that he would not &il to acquaint me
with the residt in New York; then bringing up Captain Manuel,
• His name was, probably, Beckwit^ not Becket In a liet of the Brituh
eAcers there it a Mr. Onslow Beckwith, a eeoond lieatenant in the 33d regiment
en the 24th of April, 17S2, who is preenmed to be the gentleman here alloded to«
There Wno one of the name of Beeke't on the MaU,
PRISONERS MARCHED TO NEW YORK. 221
the person who was to succeed him, he introduced me to him, with
a particular recommendation of me to his care> and wished us a
good evening.
Under the command of Captain Manuel we continued our
march until within six or seven miles of New York. We were
here quartered very comfortably for the night, in the back part of
a vacant house, of which Mr. Manuel took to himself the front.
Although he had not the amenity and ease of manners so eminently
possessed by his predecessor, he far outwent him in ceremonious
civility ; and in one or two interviews I had with him, he almost
overwhelmed me with bows. It would be unjust, however, not
to say, that his usage of us was unexceptionable, though we were
not much favoured with his company. Here, for the first time,
we drew provisions for the almost famished prisoners, in which
number, the reader knows, I have no right to include myself, and
one or two of my friends ; and it was politely referred to me, as
the eldest oflScer in the company, to put my name to the provision
return, made out also by ourselves. In the morning, early, the rest of
the prisoners from the fort and Haerlem village, had come on ; and
being all assembled, we took up the line of march, preparatory tq
our untriumphal entry into the city of New York. From the cir-
cumstance of our being most advanced, we had the honour of
forming the van of the procession, strung out to a great length,
between a line of British infantry on either side. Captain Manuel^
from an effect of the arrangements, had now ceased to accompany
us; instead of whom, we, in front, were escorted by a Captain
Warren, a young Irishman of the Inniskillen regiment. He was
not uncourteous or disobliging; and was extremely prompt in
attending to the want of drink, which sometimes occurred upon
the road, on these occasions, offering the contents of his canteen
to mix with the water that was brought us. But he was somewhat
too lavish of the term rebel, extremely offensive to my ear, I must
confess, however appropriate it might be. In the English lan-
guage, it is too much interwoven with the idea of state criminality,
to be other than highly opprobrious. It might be doubted, never-
theless, whether in the mouth of Captain Warren, it had its full
malignity ; and whether its adoption was not less owing to a de-
sign to stigmatize, than to the insufficiency of his vocabulary.
19*
222 OCCUURENCES ON THE ROAD.
He was fond of chatting, and, I might add, of boasting of the
prowess of the British troops, whom4ie took occasion to compare
with ours. I told him that I had often seen them before, and ad-
mitted that they were well dressed and well armed, to which cir-
cumstances, might perhaps be owing, their apparent advantage
over ours. He took what I said in good part ; and what is a proof,
that he ought to be excepted from the real scoundrels in the British
service, is, that some time afterwards, meeting him in the street at
New York, he stopped me, and behaved with an entirely correct
civility.
On the road, as we approached the city, we were beset by a
parcel of soldier's trulls and others, who came out to meet us.
It was obvious, that in the calculation of this assemblage of fe-
male loyalty, the war was at an end; and that the whole of the
rebel army, Washington and all, were safe in durance. Which
is Washington ? Which is Washington ? proceeded from half a
dozen moulhs at once ; and the guard was obliged to exert itself
to keep them oflT. Some of them assailed us with vollies of Bil-
lingsgate; and Colonel Maxwell, who rode along side of us,
and whom I immediately recognised for a Captain Maxwell, who
had once lodged at my mother's, had enough to do to silence
one of them, calling out repeatedly: ^^ Away with that woman!
Take her way! Knock her down, the bitch! Knock her down!"
Previously to entering the city, we were drawn up for about
an hour, on the high ground near the East river. Here, the of-
ficers being separated from the men, we were conducted into a
church, where, if I mistake not, we signed a parole. While in
this building, which, with the addition of those spectators \vho
pressed in along with us, was pretty much crowded, a portly,
well looking, middle-aged non-commissioned ofiicer of the forty-
second regiment, approached me, observing in a low voice, that
be was sure he had seen me before: "Was not my name ^?" I
answered in the affirmative. "I thought so," said he, "I have often
seen you at your mother's in Philadelphia ; and though you were
then but a boy, I clearly retrace your features. As you are pro-
bably in want of money, may I beg you to accept of this ?" slip-
ping into my hand a dollar. I objected to taking it, as I might
never have an opportunity of repaying him. "No matter if
GENEBOSITY OF A HIGHLANDER. 223
jroa hare not," said he ; "it is but a trifle, but such as it is, you
(annot oblige me more than by accepting it." I accordingly put
it m my pocket, the confusion and bustle of the scene preventing
my taking measures for ascertaining the means of seeing him
again ; and having never afterwards met with him, I am still in-
debted to this amount, together with the gratitude that is inse-
parable from it, to this worthy, generous man, whose memory, it
seems, was better than that of Colonel Stirling, Captain Grants
and many others, who had better means of recollection, than this
sergeant. They did not see me, it is true ; and if they had,
they were doubtless too much in the Bute system of politics, to
have any charity for our rebellion, or one engaged in it. But
Mr. Stirling, when a Captain, I always thought a haughty, self-
important man, too intent on things above him to cast a glance
at those beneath; and, whether correct or not in this opinion,
having, in truth, no right to expect any thing from him or his
elan, I was not disappointed ; nor should I have thought of taking
notice of them, had not the disloyal officiousness of their sergeant,
somehow prompted my pencil to give them a nook in the back
ground.
I ought before to have mentioned a visit from' a Mr. Johnson,
of Georgia, wh(f had been my fellow pupil at Pike's fencing
school. Whether it was on the day, oi^the day after we were
taken, I do not remember, but Johnson, whose politics I had not
before known, was, I found, a staunch government man, and in-
vested with a commission in the royal army. He appeared not
displeased at seeing me well, but was at no pains to conceal his
exultation at our misfortune, and the prospect he thence derived,
of our being speedily subdued. Thus called upon, I bragged a
little in ray turn, though with a heart much less assured than his.
Our men were confined in churches and sugar-houses, and
quarters were assigned for us who were officers, in the upper
part of the town, in what was called the holy ground. But, be-
sides, that it was not totU^a-fait honnete or entirely correct, to be-
come a charge to his Britannic Majesty, after having presumed
to resist his royal authority, I was somewhat apprehensive that
bis fare might not be the most sumptuous; and therefore, though
but with the single dollar in my pocket, which I owed to the
224 DISPOSAL OF THE PRISONERS.
bounty of the benevolent Highlander, I yet ventared to take
boarding at foiir dollars per week. I knew that I had an excel*
lent banker in Philadelphia, and that if specie was to be pro*
cured, my good mother would take care to get it, and send it to
me. The person with whom I boarded was a Mr^. Carroll, who,
under the protection of General Robertson, commandant of the
town, was hardy enough to entertain rebels. She passed for the
particular favourite of this gentleman ; and was sufficiently young
and buxom, to give probability to the imputation. She played
her cards with much address, and bent her politics, if she had
any, to her interest. She was, no doubt, tory or whig, as best
suited the company she happened to be in ; and, of course, with
us, was always the latter — ^shaping accordingly her news and her
anecdotes, of which she picked up abundance when she went
abroad, and detailed to us on the opening of the budget on her
return. With due allowance for her influences and motives, we
were flattered, and sometimes instructed by her communications.
What led me to these quarters, was the circumstance, of some of
the Pennsylvania officers taken on Long Island, being already in
them, viz. Colonels Atlee and Miles; Major Burd, Captain Her*>
bet, &c. There was also there a Mr. Coursey or De Courcey,
of Smallwood's regiment; and they now, besides myself, re-
ceived the addition of Colonel Magaw, Major West, Captains
Lenox and Edwards, and Doctor McHenry, who afterwards be-
came a member of General Washington's family and Secretary
of War. Colonel Cadwalader, (through the interest of General
Prescott, who, when a prisoner with us, had been liberally treated
by Doctor Cadwalader, the father of the Colonel,) was imme-
diately released, and went home on parole.
From the number of her boarders, Mrs Carroll might be sup-
posed to have a very large house, but this was not the fact. It was
but an humble tenement in Queen's street, of two stories, with
two or three chambers: but adjoining it, was a building, which,
having been abandoned, we, at her instance, under the auspices
of General Robertson, took possession of, and furnished with our
own mattresses and blankets. Nothing was scarcer in New
York, this winter, than fuel ; but, clubbing our weekly allowance
BAGGAGE RESTOBED. 5225
of coal, we were enabled to supply for our hostess, the parlor and
kitchen fire.
The next object of our cares, was our baggage at Fort Wash-
ington. The security of that, belonging to those taken in the
fort, was stipulated for on its surrender ; and although I could
not claim the benefit of the capitulation, I did not doubt, that
mine, as a part of the mass, would fare as well as the rest. It
chiefly consisted of a mattress and trunk, in which, was a bundle
of letters, the fruits of an interesting correspondence, which had
never been intermitted, from the time of my leaving Philadel-
phia, to that of my captivity ; and which, I valued far beyond
all my other possessions. They were now more precious than
ever ; since all letters, to or from us, being subjected to inspec-
tion, the intercourse must cease ; and the reperusal of these must
console me for the privation of recent communications. My
anxiety, however, was soon removed, by the safe arrival by
water, two or three days after our reaching New York, of my
trunk and mattress. I lost, indeed, a fowling-piece, small-
sword and some other articles : but these were of little conse-
quence; and I thought myself supremely fortunate in losing no
more. The advantage of a change of clothes, being by this time
very desirable, I gladly availed myself of the contents of my
trunk, which, besides linen, stockings, &c., aflbrded me a better
suit of regimentals, and a newer hat than those I had on. As
I saw no reason why I should not wear them, I put them on for
the purpose of taking a walk through the city. My fellow-lodgers,
who had been taken on Long Island, being older and more pru-
dent than myself, evinced some surprise at my temerity. To
them I appeared much better dressed than rebel beseemed; and
they predicted the probability of insult and abuse, should I ex-
hibit myself in a trim so remote from the garb of humility ; for
as to themselves, they had, with the exception of Colonel Atlee,
and one or two more, exchanged their martial habiliments for
plain clothes ; and even in these, they rarely went out. With-
out regarding their suggestions, however, I sallied forth alone,
and walked past the coflee-house, down to the battery. Finding
the gate-way open, I entered it, and after traversing it to its ex-
tremity, I strolled back again; almost every sentinel, to my great
226 AUTHOR IN REGIMENTALS.
surprise, I must confess, handling his arms to me as I passed.
Leaving the battery, I took a turn into another part of the town,
and after a considerable round, regained my lodgings, without
having met with the smallest molestation. But I afterwards
learned from Mr. Theophilact Bache, (of whom I shall have oc-
casion to speak in the sequel) that he well recollected, once see-
ing me pass the coSee-house, probably at this veiy time; and
that he and some other gentlemen, had been obliged to exert
themselves to prevent some blackguards insulting me. This
conduct of mine would seem to indicate an arrogance, or an
apathy, that I can aver was not in my character. It was not a
want of feeling, but an excess of it, which prompted me to the
proceeding. Revolting against the design to treat us as state
criminals, and to overwhelm us with the odium attached to that
condition ; smarting, too, from the personal insults I had received,
and in a state of cruel suspense respecting my brother, the pre-
vailing colour of which was, that he had been killed, my mind
was slightly tinctured with that sombre enthusiasm, which exults
in the opportunity of setting persecution at defiance ; and which
in its excess, can subdue the strongest instincts of nature, as was
evinced in the ferocious heroism of Charlotte Corday.
BOWE*S PBOClJlHATIOM. 227
CHAPTER rX.
Pardon ofiered by Howe to the Americans, upon retorn to their aUe2|fiance.->«
Letter of General Waehingtond — ^An Officer*! dinner party.-— A lingpilar Cha*
racter. — Treatment of Prisoners. — ^Reflections on the American policy. —
Memorial presented to General Howe. — Situation of Affairs. — American
Officers. — Deserters from the cause of Independence. — Prospects. — Coffee-
hoase Incidents— British Provost Marshal. — Colonel Allen.— Result of appli-
cation to General Howe. — Exchange of Prisoners. — ^Removal of Officers to
Long Island.
One of the first measures of the Howes, in consequence of
their late success, was to issue a proclamation, tendering pardon
to such as should renounce the cause of rebellion. I only re*
collect its general tenor, and that the proffered grace might have
been spared. Not more than one or two, and indeed not one
to my certain knowledge, embraced the invitation, although
warmly recommended to us by Mr. Commissary Loring. This
was, no doubt, a matter both of surprise and mortification ; and
one, which in no degtee tended to mitigate the contemptuous
rigour of our treatment.
Mr. Beckwith, it may be recollected, had promised to call
upon me. He kept his word, and sought me at oiir allotted
quarters on the holy ground. Not finding me there, or meeting
with any one Who could tell him where I lodged, he lefl a mes-
sage for me, importing that after the most diligent inquiry, he
had not been able to learn any thing respecting my brother.
Some time afler, meeting in the street, a sergeant who had be-
longed to his guard, I inquired for him, and was informed, that,
very shortly after I had seen him, he had embarked for Rhode
Island.
Among the rare exceptions to the haughty demeanour of our
lordly masters, might be mentioned, the occasional civility of
228 AUTHO& HEABS FROM HIS MOTHER.
Major Skene, who seemed, for himself, to have adopted the
conciliatoiy mode of conduct, and sometimes called to see us.
Besides a slight acquaintance he had made with Colonels Atlee
and Miles, he had, while in durance among us, contracted a sort
of general acquaintance with the rebel character of America; and
he appeared not to think very ill of it, notwithstandbg its colli-
sion with the high pretensions of British supremacy, of which,
he was an unqualified votary. He was a portly man, about
forty, or forty-five, apparently frank and good-humoured ; and
so far was he from resenting the usage he had received from us,
that he acknowledged he had been treated full as well as he had
a right to expect, since he had made it a point to be as trouble-
some and vexatious as possible.
Between two and three weeks had elapsed, when I received
e letter from my mother. It was brought by a Captain Hesketb,
of the British army, who had been a prisoner with us. It ac-
quainted me he had money for me ; but a piece of intelligence
of still greater consequence, was, that my brother was safe and
teit home. A boat had got over the Hudson, as I had heard, and
to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy, by whom he had
been closely pressed, he had put himself on board. Nothing
now was wanting to make me as happy as my situation would
admit. I waited upon Captam Hesketh, found him at home,
and was very politely treated both by him and his lady, to whose
notice I had been particularly recommended by Miss Amiel, of
Philadelphia, a mutual acquaintance. Among other things, Mrs.
Hesketh, who was the most communicative, informed me, that
they had met General Washington on their road, at the head of
his army, which must indeed have been a small one; though
this unwelcome truth being spared, I had not the courage to
elict it by any questions. And this account agrees with a letter
of the General, to the Board of War, dated Brunswick, the 30th
of November, wherein he speaks of having met with Captain
Hesketh and his family. Of the same date, from the same per-
son, and in his own hand, I shall now present the reader with a
letter, which, considering the pressing situation of affairs, dis-
plays a mind at once superior to adversity, and alive to the im-
pressions of hutiianity, and the feelings of private distress. It
LETTER FROM GENERAL WASHINGTON.
appears to be in answer to a letter from my mother, on hearing
of my captivity.
''Brunsuricky 30th Jfav. 1776.
^^ Madam,
" Your letter to your son (enclosed to me) went in the day
after it came to my hands, by a flag which happened to be going
to New York.
"I am very sorry for the misfortune of your son's captivity,
but these are accidents which must be experienced and felt in
war. Colonel Cadwalader, who has been suflered to return to
Philadelphia, would be able to inform you of your son's health.
Any hard money, which you may be able to forward to me, or
Mr. Tilghman, (who is of my &mily) shall be contrived to him
by some means or other.
'< I am. Madam,
** Your very humble servant,
"Go: WASHINGTON.^'
This letter is given verbatim as it is written, without pre«^
suming to supply what may be supposed an omission in the last
Ibe. The words to be sent^ after the word contrivedy appear to
be wanting. Whether they were left out through inadvertence,
or in compliance with an American mode of speaking, taken
notice of by Doctor Witherspoon, in an essay under the signature
of <* A Druid," I shall not undertake to decide. I can only say,
that if it is an Americanism, I never heard it before,* and that
it is not common in Pennsylvania. It is, however, perfectly in-
telligible, and analogous to other contractions in the language of
business.
The letter spoken of by the General, as having been enclosed
to him, and sent in by a flag, I did not receive until some time
after that by Captain Hesketh. It had, probably, wandered out
of its road, into the hands of a British officer of the same Chris-
tian and surname, as well as rank, as this gentleman told a lady
of my acquaintance in Philadelphia, when General Howe after-
* An AmeriMfiMfH, certainly, but it wu leldoni, indeed, that General Wash-
imsTON thus transgretied. The ezpreeeion is common amon^ a portion of oar
Wettem ooontrymen-Hind ii not unusual, it is believed, in New-Bn^land.— Ed.
20
230 DINNER PARTY.
vrards got possession of it, that he had heen fortunate enough to
find a mother in this country, from whom he had received some
very affectionate letters.
It was about this time, that I received a billet from Captain
Wilson already mentioned. It was equally addressed to Major
West, Captain Tudor and myself ; and stated that a tour of duty
into Jersey, had been the cause of his not attending to us before ;
and after apologizing for not waiting on us, for some cause or
other, it requested our company to dine with him on the day but
one after its date, in which case, he would send his servant to
show us the way to his quarters. We understood from his note,
that he was fearful of paying his respects personally, in the usual
manner. It was obviously the system of the British army to
treat us as persons, with whom to maintain an intercourse,
would, on their part, be both criminal and degrading; and Wil-
son, from whatever cause, appeared more than ordinarily solici-
tous to avoid any ground for suspicion of too much attention to
us. West was indisposed, but Tudor and myself, for the sake
of a little variety, waiving etiquette agreed to dine with him ; and
when the day came, were conducted to his house, or rather to
his chamber, by a soldier. The dinner party was small, con-
sisting, besides ourselves, only of our entertainer and a Lieute-
Bant, whose name I have forgotten. He was a tall, and stout
young Irishman, who, by way of high recommendation, Wilson
took an opportunity to inform me, was very brave; and had
killed with his own hand, a Captain of ours at White Plains.
This, I was, no doubt, to take as a compliment to myself, being
as much as to say, I consider yoa as a brave man too, sir, by sup-
posing you capable of appreciating the quality in another, though
even at the expense of your own side. This young Ajax, how-
ever, was modest and unassuming ; and both he and the Cap-
tain, acted in exact conformity to that creed of a professional sol-
dier, which, according to Lucan, is as old as the civil war of the
first triumvirate, and contained in the declaration of Pompey's
Generals Afranius and Petreius to Caesar, that
** War with its own oocasions came nnioaght,
And foand fhem on tiM ndo for which thej fongfatr'*
A SINGULAR CHARACTER. 231
The bottle was briskly circulated, and in the course of the after-
nooo, there were several droppers in ; among others, a curious
little creature, who bore the commission of either a Captain or a
Lieutenant. He had the appearance of a youth not exceeding
twenty, and was one of the smallest and lightest men I ever be-
held; a genuine mo^^er Slender j ihhi might have been ^'made
out of a cheese-paring after supper:" If he weighed a hun-
dred, it was much. From the conversation, in which he took
his full proportion, it appeared that he had either a wife or a
mistress ; for he complained that his lady, whom he called Bet-
sey or Kitty, had grown vastly too fond of the pleasures of the
town, and by inference, somewhat too indiflerent to himself.
The circumstance, however, did not seem likely to break his
heart ; and the less so, from not being thought necessary to be
locked up in that repository. He evinced, in another instance,
not necessary to detail, that he was an utter stranger to the nicer
feelings ; and from such a graceless compend of premature de-
bauchery being treated with some attention, I was induced to
consider him as the degenerate offspring of some great sire.
Another person, who joined us in the evening, appeared to her
long to the navy. He was probably a surgeon. Captain of a
transport, or something in that way, as, though he wore a cock-
ade, he had no uniform. He was called upon for his toast.
"What have you been drinking?" said he: "Peace, reconciliation,
and so forth," replied Wilson. But the fellow, either stupid or
perversely malignant, gave. Confusion to the rebels. This pro-*
duced at least confusion in the company, which was extremely
disconcerted and hurt, our host in particular. Perceiving this
I determined to give the circumstance the go by with the best
possible grace; and therefore, with a silent contempt for the
toast, I drank to Captain Wilson. He returned the compliment,
and the other gentlemen bowing around the table without re-
peating the sentiment, it was only swallowed by the giver, who
not long after, took his leave. The general hilarity was soon re-
stored in the true national style, which, without the " feast of
reason," has certainly much of the ''flow of soul;" and what^
ever a rigid policy might dictate elsewhere, it was wholly laid
aside at this table. Tory or whig, loyal or disloyal, was out of
232 DINNER PARTT.
the question ; and about eight or nine o'clock. Captain Wilson,
putting us under the care of a soldier with a lantern in his hand,
permitted us to depart, with full as much wine on board, as in
conscience was due to our slight acquaintance with his brothers
in Philadelphia : ai!d thus by a single act of Irish hospitality, he
cancelled the obligation he had voluntarily imposed upon himself,
of rendering us every service in his power. Something, bow-
ever, was due to this gentleman for a treatment of us, altogether
liberal and obliging.
But, while from the advantage of bearing commissions, we had
the benefit of free air and the use of our limbs, our poor devoted
soldiers were enclosed within walls, scantily supplied with pro-
visions of bad quality, wretchedly clothed, and destitute of suffi-
cient fuel, if indeed they had any. Disease was the inevitable
consequence of such a situation ; and their prisons of course, soon
became hospitals. A fatal malady was generated ; and the mor-
tality, to every heart not steeled by the spirit of party, was truly
deplorable. I once, and once only, ventured to penetrate into
these abodes of human misery and despair. But, to what pur-
pose repeat my visit, when I had neither relief to administer, nor
comfort to bestow ! What could I say to the unhappy victims
who appealed to me for assistance, or sought my advice as to the
alternative of death or apostaoy? For until rendered worthless
and unfit for military duty by disease, they might enlist, and thus
rescue themselves from the suflerings that awaited them. I en«
deavoured to encourage them with the hope of an exchange, but
humanity forbade my counselling them to rush on sure destruc-
tion: I rather chose to turn my eye from a scene I could not me-
liorate ; to put from me a calamity which mocked my power of
alleviation.
Our own condition, too, though a paradise to theirs, was be-
coming hopeless. To say nothing of the danger of legal punish-
ment, it indicated a captivity without end, or at least commen-
surate with the war. To other existing obstacles, a new one
was added by the capture of General Lee * considered by Gene-
ral Howe as a deserter from the British army, and therefore, not
* For an ftccoimt of this captare» see AppendU L— En^
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. 233
entitled to exchange. Meanwhile the sternness of power was
displayed with unabating rigour and systematic perseverance.
In this scene of military despotism, I sometimes indulged my
melancholy in an evening walk, when, imagination taking its
flight to the shores of the Delaware, insensi!)ly led my steps to
the western part of the city. Having been the theatre of the late
fire, it was marked by devastation ; and as nothing is more con-
genial to the soul in gloom, than to wander among ruins,
** What time the moon, in solemn apleiidour pours .
Long threads of silver through the gaping towers,**
it was the time I chose, to take my solitary ramble through the
deserted and dilapidated edifices of Broadway. Here, amid
the irregularly indented battlements which frowned in desola-
tion, I meditated on the horrors of this guilty city, where " poor
misfortune fell the lash of vice," and thousands of my unhappy
countrymen were perishing under the hand of proud, unfeeling
authority : Not poniarded, it is true, before the faces of their op-
pressors, nor murdered by the impious mockery of judicial in-
vestigation, but remorselessly consigned to slow consuming
tortures, equally fatal and potent to destruction. In this, I ad-
mit, I si)eak the language of indignant feeling; but unless the
suffering of the American prisoners was the effect of dire ne-
cessity, the British nation should be less clamourous about the
massacre of Jaffa, since the quality of her humanity, when com-
pared with that of France, would be precisely that of Nero, when
contrasted with Domitian's ; and hence, the whitest, it must be
granted, by a very few gradations. The former, as w^e are
told by Tacitus, had the grace to avert his eyes from the enor-
mities he ordained ; while those of the latter, feasted on human
agony, and noted down the sighs of those who dared to sympa-
thize with the victims. JVero tamen subtraxU oculos; jussitqm
scderoj non spectarrU : pradpua sub Domitiano miseriarum pars
eraty videre et aspici ; cum suspiria nostra subscriberentur.
It is no grateful office to apologize for obduracy; nor is it for
the sufferers to seek excuses for the conduct of their oppressors.
Justice, nevertheless demands, that due consideration should
be had for the situation of the invading army ; the scantiness of
20*
234 REFLECTIONS ON THE AMEBICAN POLICY.
its limits ; its ability to guard its prisoners, and means of subsist-
ing tbem ; nor would the bandaged Deity, on a scrutiny, I fear,
entirely hold guiltless the assertors of liberty and declared pro*
tectors of the rights of man. By her own pitiable policy, the
balance in an exchange of prisoners, was miserably against Con-
gress; and her annual enlistments opposed a formidable bar to the
most sacred duties both of honour and humanity. But the heroic
epoch of seventy-six, had its full leaven of selfishness; and whe-
ther we appealed to our own or the French revolution, no two
things will be found less alike than patriotism and phUanthrophyy
however it may be the fashion to speak of them as the same.
When the great business is to raise an empire or to save one,
what care we for the welfare of a minute inconsiderable part;
and a part too, not having the slightest relation to ourselves? In
the scale of public utility, what comparison can there be between
an ignorant, mercenary soldier, and an enlightened member of
the grand National Council, whose precious neck might, perad-
venture, be '' destined to the cord,"* in case of an unprosperous
issue to the contest! It is for your Howards to ^'plunge into
the infection of hospitals, to take guage and dimensions of misexy,
depression and contempt;" it is for them, '^ to survey the man-
sions of sorrow and pain, to remember the forgotten^ to attend to
the neglected ;^^ Congress had far higher concerns. Possibly, I
go too far ; yet there were certainly prisoners in our bands, who,
if not equal in amount to those in the hands of the enemy, would
at least have obtained a partial exchange ; perhaps, with proper
management, the release of the whole of the men; and the ob-
stacle arising from the situation of Lee, might have been re-
stricted to the officers. But this would not have done; there
was an ugly rub in the affair: the. time of enlistment having
expired, our men were no longer soldiers, while those of the
enemy were still subject to command, and in a condition, imme-
diately to take the field. Is it not probable, therefore, that we
ourselves may owe a little to the manes of our devoted country-
men ? But should I still be deemed censurable for the freedom
of my observations, perhaps some of the letters of General Wash-
* An ezprewion of General Gaox's in tome of his pablieationt.
BfEMOBIAL PRESENTED TO GENERAL HOWE. 235
iNGTON, whose discretion will not be questioned, might be brought
to my aid : from these it might appear, that the army was not
always cherished with the most paternal care. Revolutions^
however, are not the soil for any but the stoical virtues; and^
counting every life that was lost, all the vile plebeian carcasses
which have served to dress the hot bed, so rankly teeming with
political Jiingi J is there a statesman of nerve, a hopeful pupil of
the Monticello school, who would not say, that, upon every
principle of political economy, our independence was cheaply
purchased ?*
But the situation of the suffering soldiery, was not unattended
to by their more fortunate oflBcers ; and the means of relieving
them were the subject of our daily consideration. The most ob-
vious, was, to present an address to Sir William Howe ; but it
was suggested, that, as the condition of the men could not but
be known to him, it was to be considered as designed; and that,
therefore, to state it, might be deemed impertinent, and be, in
effect, injurious rather than beneficial to the end in view. This
consideration, for awhile, restrained any interference in their
behalf; but at length, it was resolved that a representation should
be made. A memorial was prepared and signed by Colonels
Magaw, Miles and Atlee, and they appointed me to deliver it.
I accordingly repaired to head quarters ; and meeting with some
gentlemen of the family at the door, I presented it to them, with
a request that it might be submitted as soon as convenient, to
the Commander-in-chief. They promised it should be laid be-
fore him without delay, and inquired my name and rank, as the
contents of the paper, not being known, it might be supposed to
relate to myself, and at any rate, as on the deliverer of a paper,
there rests a certain degree of responsibility for its contents.
As soon as we had obtained a supply of cash, we equipped
ourselves generally in plain clothes, in which we were less con-
spicuous, and consequently, more at ease. There was a very
* A revolation in the tLggTegate, is & no less glorious thing than a battle, but
they both lose many of their charms on an analysis ; and this must account fat
the puny features of my narrative, when compared with the noble countenance
of general history. It ought also to plead for me, with those, who may charge
me with, Etahnt au public notre mi$anthropie.
236 SITUATION OF AFFAIRS.
large store kept by one CofSn, in which, it was confidently said,
Sir William Howe had a concern. From its containing the best
assortment of goods, we gave it our custom ; and I accordingly
called there one day, to buy some cloth and other articles, but
as my gold had been clipped, it could not be taken, and I left
the store with an apprehension that my coin would be useless to
me. Very soon after, however, Mr. Coffin contrived to let me
know, that he had waived his objection, and that my money
would be received ; and after this, I found myself a welcome
customer for all of it I could spare.
Although there must have been in New York a number of re-
fugees from Philadelphia, I presume they did not go much abroad,
as I do not remember ever meeting one of them in the street;
and the only one who ventured to call upon us, was Colonel
William Allen, already mentioned. He came to our lodging
once or twice, in the evening. His situation was an extremely
awkward one. In civil contests, there seems no medium; and
neither side will tolerate neutrals. Having borne arms with us,
he had not the merit of an orthodox tory with the British ; neither
had he any claim lo the whiggism of the day, having renounced
the cause of independence, and associated his fortunes with those
of the enemy. In this predicament, however exempt from per-
sonal animosity we might be, there could be nothing cordial or
free in our intercourse : it admitted only of a constrained and
formal civility. I have little doubt, however, that Mr. Allen's
personal feelings were, at this time, more with us than his new
friends. As I have infinitely more satisfaction in recollecting and
recording acts of generosity than of intolerance, I cannot omit to
note the attention I received from Mr. Heathcote Johnson, of
Amboy. This gentleman used to spend a good deal of his time
in Philadelphia, had lodged at my mother's, and consequently,
remembered me, though much younger than himself. Meeting
him one day in the street, he slopped me, and in a very friendly
manner invited me to spend a few weeks with him at Amboy.
This, I could on no account have consented to, had I been at
liberty to leave New York ; but that not being the case, I availed
myself of this restriction in declining his invitation. He replied
that it might be got over; and that if I would favour him with m;
SITUATION OF AMERICAN OFHCERS. 237
company, he had no doubt, but that he had sufficient influence
lo obtain an extension of my limits. I was now obliged to de-
cline his civility in more positive terms, though with a due im-
pression of the liberality and kindness which had prompted it.
Other attentions, of a character not wholly dissimilar, as coming
from the royal side, we could well have dispensed with. These
were from Captain Davenport and Colonel Houssacker, quondam
whigs and officers of our army. The first, originally appointed a
lieutenant in our regiment, had, by the promotion of two of our
captains to the station of cdds-de-camp^ and of our major to the
lieutenant-colonelcy of a new battalion, risen to the command of
a company, as had also Tudor and Edwards, the latter already
spoken of as my first lieutenant. This Davenport was an Irish-
man, who had been but a short time in Philadelphia; but by
means of good connexion there, an air of the world, and a con-
summate degree of effirontery, he had obtained not only a com-
mission, but much consequence. He dressed well, and had a
plausible exterior, but was found wholly destitute of honour and
principle. After our retreat from Long Island, he remained in
New York, either sick or pretending to be so, and though re-
peatedly urged and commanded to join the regiment, he staid
there until the British took possession of it. He was certainly a
voluntary captive, if not a deserter; and there can be little doubt
that he had renounced our cause and made his peace with the
enemy. He notwithstanding came to see us, and wished to
be sociable as formerly, affecting to consider himself as a prisoner,
and alledging in proof of it, his confinement in the provost prison,
where I believe he had been a short time. We understood him,
but, as we had no absolute certainty of his baseness, we did not
think it necessary to discard him ; for as he frequented the coffee-
house, mixed with the British army and tories, we often received
intelligence through him, that we could not otherwise have ob-
tained ; and as he cared as little for one side as the other, his only
objects being whole bones and an adherence to the prevailing one,
he had no temptation to deceive us. As to Houssacker, he had
been originally commissioned a Major of Wayne's battalion. He
had, if I paistake not, been an Adjutant of the Royal Americans;
and was considered a capable disciplinarian. He was a German,
238 DESERTERS FROM THE CAUSE OF INDEPENDENCE.
or rather a man of no country or any country ; a citizen of the
world, a soldier of fortune, and a true mercenary. Thinking that
our cause was going down rapidly, he saw no reason for adhering
any longer to it ; but came over to the enemy in the season of our
extreme adversity, though he did not reach us until after the afiaiis
of Trenton and Princeton. Not liking the name of a deserter, he
called himself a prisoner, but certainly, if he was one, he had
made much better terms than we had. He told us, however, that
all was over ; and that General Washington was reduced to the
necessity of giving enormous bounties for only two or three weeks
service ; that by means of these, and harranguing his troops, he con-
trived to keep a few in the field, but that there was not the smallest
doubt, that the business was up, and America subdued. His
inference was, that we ought immediately to make our peace.
" What do you shut yourselves up here for ?" said he, in his rattling
manner, to Miles, Atlee and Magaw, with whom he was acquainted.
" Why don't you go to the coffee-house and mix with the British
army, as I do ? They will use you well you may depend upon it.
And, to be sure, the thing was easy enough ; it was only to change
sides, to cry peccavi^ and receive forgiveness." Nevertheless,
Colonel Houssacker made no proselytes to his opinion, or rather
to his principles. Our affairs, it must be confessed, were at a
very low ebb ; in so far, at least, as success was dependant on
sheer fighting. The immense multitude which had taken the field
in the beginning of the summer, was no longer to be found : it
had vanished ; three short months from the opening of the cam-
paign, had melted it away. Perhaps, not less than two-thirds of
it, had gone home ; no inconsiderable part had been put hors de
combat by the enemy ; and the feeble remnant yet in arms, was
not calculated to inspire confidence.
Still we flattered ourselves that things were better than they ap-
peared ; and notwithstanding the dire bodings of Houssacker, our
spirits were not a little raised by the handsome coups de main of
Trenton* and Princeton ; both of which came to our knowledge,
• See, in Appendix I, a letter from General Wasrtnoton to Colonel Rcbd or
Colonel Cadwaladck. Sparks says he did not find tbii letter amoogr Washino.
T0M*8 papers; Wiucinbon gives it in bis Memoirs, bat be does not mentioB
AMEBICAN PROSPECTS. 239
though imperfectly. The mere circumstance of showing the
country that the enemy was not invincible, we deemed of incal*
culable importance. It was in vain that the truth was disguised
in the papers : enough was learned from other channels, to con-
vince us that some signal advantages had been obtained, and to
induce a belief that the spirit of America was rising with the crisis.
We were always anxious to see the newspapers, though, to be
disgusted and mortified, was the never failing result of a sight of
them. But mercilessly as they be-rebelled us, the refugees, to our
great delight, were not always spared ; as may be collected from
the following superlatively stupid paragraph, which appeared in
the paper of Hugh Gaines. It was substantially, if not precisely,
in these words : — " One of the rebels who had lately taken the
benefit of the commissioners proclamation, complaining to a British
officer, that he was not treated as a gentleman, the officer replied : —
*I take a gentleman to be a man of honour, and as it is plain no
rebel can be such, you, having been one, cannot expect to be
treated better than you are.' " I felt a strong itch to cast a squib
at this Boeotian attempt at a sarcasm ; but the difficulty was to
give it publicity. There was no getting it into a newspaper, and
detection w^ould infallibly have obtained the author a lodging in
the provost prison. Upon consulting with Edwards, it was agreed
to endeavour to have it placed in a conspicuous part of the coffee-
house ; and accordingly, in the evening, we procured a black boy,
who, for the small fee of a quarter of a dollar or half a crown,
undertook to lay, unobserved, the following production, sealed
and addressed, " To the officers of the British army," in one of the
boxes of the coffee-room :
" A friend to government, presents his warmest and most sub-
missive acknowledgments to his * very worthy and approved good
masters,' the gallant officers of the British army, ever pre-eminent
in mercy* for their manly and immortal triumph over the rebel,
who had lately the unparalelled audacity to appear in the company
whence be obtained it Its publication by Wilkinson, who, doubtless, considered
it genaiae, — and Sparks ag^rees with him, — is no proof of its authenticity. On
the eontrary, from internal evidence, we should pronounce it to be a forjfery. — £o.
* Words in a letter or proclamation of General Gage, while at Boston.
240 COFFEE-HOUSE INCIDENT.
of gentlemen — I say, gentlemen ; for from that witty and ingenious
sarcasm, which appeared in Mr. Gaines' last paper, it is incon-
testably proved that no rebel can be such; and it is therein no less
clearly demonstrated, that every man who wears a red coat, and
has the magnanimity to insult a person in his power, has every
claim to that respectable character, which humanity, politeness
and true heroism can confer. But, while I applaud the glory, I
cannot but condemn the policy of the deed ; for who knows, but
that some of these poor, shabby rascals, may have the arrogance
to call thenselves gentlemen on their own dunghill, and even to
venture upon retaliation ? It is true, their cowardice and mean-
ness of spirit, have hidierto induced them to treat their prisoners
with the utmost lenity and civility ; but, from the spirit of enter-
prize, they have lately discovered, it is much to be feared, that
they may, one day, pluck up courage enough to look a British
officer in the face, or even to insult a captive.
" But I wander from my point, which was merely to celebrate
this illustrious exploit, which far transcends the most heroic
achievements of your ancestors. How shall I express my satis-
fisiction of your conduct? In a word, I am dumb with admiration,
and ^ in silence muse your praise.' "
We remained in ignorance of the issue of our machination,
until the following evening, when, Davenport calling upon us,
immediately testified by his countenance (for he was not an un-
pleasant rogue) that some amusing mischief had occurred. ^' You
are a couple of pretty fellows," said he to Edwards and myself;
** you have made a devil of an uproar at the coffee-house !" We
affected not to know what he meant, but he insisted upon it, that
it was by us, and us alone, that a letter had been addressed to the
British officers, which had set some of them raving mad. We
found he had seen it, as he mentioned its contents. Some of the
officers, he told us, only laughed at it, and said it was very well
done, while others were so outrageous, as to put up a notice in
the coffee-room, importing, that <^ no wkite-toashed rebel should
presume to set his foot there again, under pain of bemg turned or
kicked out ;" for they supposed it to proceed from a refugee. Da-
venport judged better; and was persuaded that we were its
BRITISH PH0V08T MARSHAL — ETHAN ALLEN. 241
authors ; though we dissembled so well, that he appeared at length
to doubt. We were highly tickled at the success of the con-
trivance, but knew better than to put ourselves into the power of
a man so unprincipled. He several times afterwards returned
to the charge, persisting in his assertion that the letter was ours ;
but we were so guarded, that he was never able to extort from us
an admission that we knew any thing of the matter: To have
gotten into the clutches of Conyngham, would have been paying
too dearly for our joke.
This Conyngham was the provost marshal, and by the concur-
rence of all who had been under his dominion, he was a fellow
that would not have disgraced the imperial throne of the Caesars,
in the darkest days of Roman tyranny : nor the republic of France,
at the most refrdgent era of Jacobinism. A just respect for the
enlightened and moral policy of our rulers, forbids my carrying the
adaptation farther. Davenport himself bore testimony to his vil-
lany ; one of whose traits, was, that in the evenmg, he would
traverse his domain with a whip in his hand, sending his prisoners
to bed, with the ruffian like Tattoo of, Kennel ye sons of bitches!
Keimel, G — d damn ye ! Colonel Ethan Allen too, in the narra-
twe of his captivity, says, that " he was as great a rascal as the
araiy could boast of," with the single exception of Joshua Loring,
the commissary of prisoners ; and he winds up a most violent, and
possibly, not ill deserved invective against the commissary, in the
following energetic and characteristic strain of eloquence. " He
(meaning Lioring) is the most mean spirited, cowardly, deceitful
and destructive animal in God's creation below ; and legions of
infernal devils, with all their tremendous horrors, are impatiently
ready to receive Howe and him, with all their detestable accom-
plices, into the most exquisite agonies of the hottest regions of
hefl-fire."*
* Ethak Axxkn wu a Brigadier-Geneial in the RevolutioDary army. He was
a native of CoDnecticut, but received hia very limited edttcation in Vermont; his
parents having emigrated to that State while he was very yonng. '* At the re-
quest of the Legislature of ConnecUcut, Allen collected a body'of about 230 Orttn
Movatem boys— as the settlers of Vermont were then designated— and marched
against the Fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. At Castleton he was
joined by Colonel Arnou>. They arrived at the lake opposite to Ticonderoga
OS the evening of May 9th, and having, with great difficulty procured boats,
21
242 GENERAL WU.LIAMS— COLONEL ALLEN.
Should this language be bought too highly i;m>ught, it should
be remembered, that few have ever more severely felt the hand
of arbitrary power than AUen; and that he had but recently
emerged from the provost guard, to which, for some alleged in-
fringement of parole, he and Major Otho H. Williams, afterwards
General Williams, a very gallant and ahready distinguished officer,
had been committed.* Allen had been brought from Hali&x to
landed 83 men on the other shore during the night. The day, howeTer, begin-
ning to dawn, Allen wai obliged to attack the Fort before his rear ooald cross
the lake, having previously animated his soldiers, by a harangue, which he con-
cluded with saying, * I now propose to advance before you, and in person to con-
duct you through the wicket-gate ; but, inasmuch as it is a desperate attempt, I
do not urge on any one contrary to his will. You that will undertake volan.
tarily, poise your firelocks.' They all immediately poised their firelocks. He
then advanced at the head of the centre file to the wicket-gate, where a sentry
snapped his fusee at him, and retreated, followed by Allen, who formed his men
upon the parade. The apartments of the commanding officer having been pointed
out to him by a sentry who asked for quarters, he instantly repaired thither, and,
holding his sword over Captain de Laplace, whom he found undressed, demanded
the surrender of the Fort The latter asking him by what authority, * I demand
it,* said Allen, * In the name of the Great Jehovah, and of the Continental Con-
gress.' De Laplace was constrained to comply, and the Fort with its stores and
garrison, was given up. General Allen was a man of strong mind and of an
enterprizing spirit He was taken prisoner in Canada. He was kept in irons
and treated with much severity. His Narrative of his captivity is csriooily
written, but, is evidently, a faithful account He died suddenly in 1789. Allen
was an infidel. He adopted sundry wild and absurd notions, among others, be-
lieving with Pythagoras that the soul of man, after death, would live again in
beasts, birds and fishes. He often said that he would live again under the ap-
pearance of a large white horse. These opinions, however, he was supposed to
profess, more from an affectation of singularity than conviction. While sitting
in his library conversing with a physician. Dr. £IIiot, Allen was informed that
his daughter was dying, and desired to speak with him. He and ESliot imme-
diately repaired to her chamber. His wife was distinguished for her piety, and
had instructed her daughter in the principles of Christianity. As soon as her
father stood at her bedside, she said to him, * I am about to die ; shaU I believe in
the principles you have taught me, or shall I believe in what my mother has
taught me 7' He became greatly agitated; his ehtn quivered; his whole frame
shook ; and, af^r waiting a few moments, he replied, * Believe what yoor mother
has taught you.* " — Eney* Amer.
•* Hear the voice within.
The small, stUl voice of conscience, hear it cry.
An Atbkist tboo mat'st uts, but oan'st not dik T'— Oi^ordL — Eo.
* Otbo Holland WiLUAMs : Herosetotherankof Adjutant-GeneraUinwhich
station he remained until the close of the revolutionary war. He greatly dislio-
GENERAL WILLIAMS COLONEL ALLEN. 243
New York, a short time before the taking of Fort Washington,
and was admitted to parole when we were. His figure was that
of a robust, lai^e-framed man, worn down by confinement and
hard fare ; but he was now recovering his flesh and spirits ; and
a suit of blue clothes, with a gold laced hat that had been pre-
sented to him by the gentlemen of Cork, enabled him to make a
very passable appearance for a rebel colonel. He used to show a
fracture in one of his teeth, occasioned by his twisting off with it,
in a fit of anger, the nail which fastened the bar of his hand-cufis ;
and which drew from one of the astonished spectators, the ex-
clamation of " damn him, can he eat iron?" I had become well
acquainted with him, and have more than once heard him relate
his adventures while a prisoner before being brought to New York,
exactly corresponding both in substance and lafiguage, with the
narrative he gave the public in the year 1779. I have seldom met
with a man, possessing, in my opinion, a stronger mind, or whose
mode of expression was more vehement and oratorical. His style
was a singular compound of local barbarisms, scriptural phrases,
and oriental wildness ; and though unclassic and sometimes un-
grammatical, it was highly animated and forcible. In the follow-
ing sentence of his narrative, though it is not perhaps strictly cor-
rect in its construction, there is to me, a flash of moral pathos not
unworthy of a Robertson. "When the fleet," says he, "con-
sisting of about forty-five sail, including five men of war, sailed
from the cove (of Cork) with a fresh breeze, the appearance was
beautiful, abstracted from the unjust and bloody designs they had
in view." Notwithstanding that Allen might have had something
of the insubordinate, lawless frontier spiritf in his composition,
having been in a state of hostility with the government of New
York before the war of the revolution, he appeared to me to be a
man of generosity and honour ; several instances of which occur
in his publication, and one, not equivocal, came under my own
foiahed hiouelf in the disastrous battle of Camden. Prerioua to the disband,
ment of the army, Congress made him a Brigadier-General. He died in 1794.
—Ed.
f A ipiiit resembling that given by Soorr to hts Borderers, and which perhaps
is eommon to men residing on the verge of policed commonities, when the law
ia feeble and inefficient, and conseqaently contemned.
244 RESULT OF APPLICATION TO GENERAL HOWE.
observation. General Washington, speaking of him in an official
letter of May the 12th, 1788, observes, with a just discrimination,
that there was an original something in him which commanded
admiration.
The representation which had been submitted to Gen. Howe,
in behalf of the suffering prisoners, was more successful than had
been expected. About a week, I think, after its delivery, the
memorialists were given to understand, that their statement and
propositions had been considered by Sir William Howe ; and that
he was disposed to accede to them. These were, if I mistake
not, that the men should be sent within our lines, where they
should be receipted for, and an equal number of the prisoners in
our hands returned in exchange. Policy, no less than humanity,
recommended the measure ; since our men, no longer soldiers
and too debilitated for service, even should they incline to re-en-
list, gave a claim to sound men, immediately fit to take the field ;
and there was, moreover, great danger that, if they remained in
New York, the disease with which they were infected, might be
spread throughout the city. That these considerations had their
weight in the favourable result of the application cannot be
doubted. At any rate, hope was admitted into the mansions of
despair : tlie prison doors were thrown open, and the soldiers
who were yet alive and capable of being moved, were conveyed
to our nearest posts, under the care of our regimental surgeons,
to them a fortunate circumstance, since it enabled them to ex-
change the land of bondage for that of liberty, and to return to
the bosom of their families and firiends. Among these was Doctor
M'Henry, with whom, firom a residence in the same house, I was
becoming intimate, though I had been but little acquainted with
him before. The mention of this gentleman, brings along with
it the recollection of my obligation to him, for his kindness and
medical care of me, under the attack of a quinsy, but a very few
days before he left us.*
Immediately after the release of our men, a new location was
♦ James McHbnrt. He was sppointed Secretary of War by WA8HiiWT0N,MfIj
in 1796, and was dismissed, with Colonel Pickuino, Secretary of State, by the
elder President Adams.— En.
EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS. 245
assigned to us ; and on the 22d of January, O'^^Ty) ^ I find
from Ethan Allen's narrative, though my recollection would have
placed it in the middle of February, we were removed to Long
Island, and by our parole, restricted to a district, consisting of
Flat-bush, New-lots, Flat-lands and Gravesend, at each of which
places, a part of us, were billetted on the inhabitants by Commis-
sary Loring, for the stipulated sum of two dollars a head per
week. What induced our removal from New York, I never
learned: but without any inclination to assign undue importance
to a trifle, it is not improbable, that the squib thrown into the
coifee-house, as already mentioned, might have had its influence
in bringing about the measure. Whatever some of the British
officers might have thought, the refugees and tories could have
had no doubt of the quarter whence it came. Its tenor, and still
more, its consequences could not but have been both offensive
and mortifying to them ; and their feelings were entitled to the
attention of Sir William Howe, whose protection they had sought.
In addition to this, it is probable, that in other respects we did
not sufficiently conform to the state of humiliation, in which it
was the policy to place us. We took the full latitude of our
parole, traversing the streets in all directions, with a good deal of
assurance ; and once, when the Tea- water pond was frozen over
and covered with British officers, who thought themselves skaters,
a few of us were audacious enough to mingle in the exercise,
from the malicious pleasure more than any thing else, of showing
them what arrant bunglers they were. But, to whatever cause it
might be owing, it was, to the generality of us, a most unwelcome
step. It was placing another river between us and our homes
and though, in fact, we should be as visible to the eyes of Con-
gress on Long Island, as at New York, we could not but consider
the measure as unpropitious to an exchange ; and we regarded
our transportation across the East river as a consignation to
"dumb forgetfulness," where, no longer thought of by friends or»
foes, we were destined to waste the best of our days in a state of
hopeless captivity.
21*
246 SITUATION OF OFHCEBS AT LONG ISLAND.
CHAPTER X.
Sitaation of Officers at hong Island.— Society at Flat-bush. — MkLoaenofthe
People.— Mr. Bache. — Captain Hotchins. — Domine Reubell. — Domine Van
Zindcr.- An Excursion. — Public Feeling.— Mr. Wallace. — Officers* Appoint-
ments. — Obstructions to an Exchange. — Hardships of Captivity.— Elegiac
Stanzas of the Author. — Obstacles to exchange of Officers. — ^Author visited by
his Mother. — Maternal Anxiety .^British Post — ^Officer8.-»Sir Greorge Osborne.
Bon Mot — Aplications for Author's release. — Application to General Howe.—
Author liberated on his Parole. — Reflections on War.
Flat-bush was the place assigned for the officers of our regi-
ment, as well as those of Magaw's. Here also, were stationed
Colonels Miles, Atlee, Rawlings and Major Williams, the indul-
gence of arranging ourselves agreeably to our respective circles
of acquaintance, having been granted by Mr. Loring, of whom,
for my own part, I have nothing hard to say. It is true, he
laboured under that " curse of great ones," in having the " forked
plague " fixed on him by Sir William : Yet as there is little doubt,
that he considered himself amply indemnified by his office, he
was not "robbed at all." Mr. Forrest and myself were billetted
on a Mr. Jacob Suydam. His house was pretty large, consisting of
buildings which appeared to have been erected at different times,
the front and better part of which, was in the occupation of Mr.
Theophilact Bache and his family, fix)m New York. Though we
were in general, civilly enough received, it cannot be supposed,
that we were very welcome to our Low Dutch hosts, whose habits of
living were extremely parsimonious, and whose winter provision was
barely sufficient for themselves. Had they been sure of receiving
the two dollars a-week, it might have reconciled them to the
measure ; but payment appeared to them to depend on the success
of our cause, (Congress, or ourselves, being looked upon as the
pay-masters,) and its failure, in their eyes, would in both cases
SOCIETY AT FLAT-BUSH. 247
induce a stoppage of payment. They were, however, a people
who seemed thoroughly disposed to submit to any power, which
might be set over them ; and whatever might have been their
propensities or demonstrations at an earlier stage of the contest,
they were now the dutiful and loyal subjects of His Majesty
George the Third ; and entirely obedient to the behests of their
militaiy masters in New York. As it was at the instance of these,
that we were saddled upon them, they received us with the best
grace they could put on. Their houses and beds we found clean ;
but their living extremely poor, and well calculated to teach the
luxurious, how infinitely less than their pampered appetites re-
quire, is essential to the sustentation of life. In the apostrophe
of Lucan,
" O prodiga rerum
Luzuriefl, nanquam parvo contenta paratu,
£t quajiitorum terra pelagoque ciborum
Ambitiosa fames, et lautoB gloria mensfe !
Dtscite qaam panro liceat producere vitam."
Thus translated by Rowe :
** Behold ! ye sons of laxury, behold!
Who scatter in excess your lavish gold ;
You who the wealth of frugal ages waste,
T* indulge a wanton snperctlious taste ;
For whom all earth, all ocean are explored
To spread tho various proud voluptuous board.
Behold ! how Uttle tlirifty nature craves.*'
A sorry wash made up of a sprinkling of bohea, and the dark-
est sugar on the verge of fluidity, with half-baked bread, fuel
being among the scarcest articles at Flat-bush, and a little stale
butter, constituted our breakfast. At our first coming, a small
piece of pickled beef was occasionally boiled for dinner, but, to
the beef which was soon consumed, succeeded clippers or clams,
and our unvaried supper was supan or mush, sometimes with
skimmed milk, but more generally with buttermilk blended with
molasses, which was kept for weeks in a chum, as swill is saved
for hogs. I found it, however, after a little use, very eatable ;
and supper soon became my best meal. The table company con-
248 MANKEIRS OF THE PEOPLE.
sisted of the master of the house, Mr. Jacob Suydam, an old
bachelor, a young man, a shoemaker of the name of Rem Hage^
man, married to Jacob's niece, who, with a mewling infant in her
arms, never failed to appear. A black boy, too, was generally in
the room ; not as a waiter, but as a kind of enfant de maisonj
who walked about, or took post in the chimney comer with his
hat on, and occasionally joined in the conversation. It is pro-
bable, that but for us, he would have been placed at the table;
and that it had been the custom before we came. Certain it is,
that the idea of equality, was more fully and fairly acted upon in
this house of a British subject than ever I have seen it practised
by the most vehement declaimers for the rights of man among
ourselves. It is but fair, however, to miention, that I have never
been among our transcendent republicans of Virginia, and her
dependencies. But notwithstanding some unpleasant circum-
stances in our establishment, every member of the family, the
black fellow, to whom we had been the cause of some privations,
excepted, was exceedingly courteous and accommodating. Rem
Hagerman, and Yonichyj his wife, gave themselves no airs; nor
was our harmony with uncle Jacob ever interrupted, but on a
single occasion, when, soured a litde by I know not what provo-
cation, he made a show of knocking down Forrest with a pair of
yam stockings he had just drawn fix)m his legs, as he sat in the
chimney-comer one evening preparing for bed. It was, indeed,
but an offer, though it might, for aug^t I know, have amounted
to an assault in law, as Jacob was not so far from the person
menaced, but that the feet of the stockings, if held by the other
extremity, and projected from an extended arm, might possibly
have reached him ; and a pair of long- worn yam stocldngs, might,
jBrom daily alluvion, have acquired somewhat of the properties of
a cudgeL But moments of peevishness were allowable to our
host ; since, though we had for some time been consuming his
provisions, he had never seen a penny of our money and it was
somewhat doubtful, to say the tmth, whether he ever would ; for,
considering the contractors for our boarding liable for it, we never
thought of paying it ourselves. As the Low Dutch are a people
little known in Pennsylvania, and more especially, as it is my
avowed intention to advert to the character of the time, this
SOCIETY AT FLAT-BUSH. 249
sketch of their domestic economy and manners, may not be
thought impertinent. In a word, from what I saw of them on
Long Island, I was led to consider them as a people, quiet and
inoffensiye beyond any I had seen ; such, from whom no enthu-
siastic efforts, either of good or evil tendency, were to be looked
for; who were neither prolific of Catos nor Catilines; and who,
had they been the sole occupants of this great continent of ours,
would still have been colonists, and never known what it was to
be independent republicans. Their religious, like their other
habits, were unostentatious and plain ; and a silent grace* before
meat, prevailed at the table of Jacob Suydam. When we were
all seated, he suddenly clasped his hands together, threw his head
on one side, closed his eyes, and remained mute and motionless
for about a minute. His niece and nephew followed his example ;
but with such an eager solicitude that the copied attitude should
be prompt and simultaneous, as to give an air of absurdity, to
what might otherwise have been very decent. Although little of
the vernacular accent remained on the tongues of these people,
they had some peculiarities in their phraseology. Among these,
instead of asking you to sit, or sit down to table, fliey invited you
to sU by; and this I even observed in General Schuyler, when I
was at Lake George. It might be asked by a stickling New
Yoiker, if " sit by " is not as proper, and even more so, than
" sit down," which, in strictness, is a redundancy. A Philadel-
phian might admit it : but it would be no evidence of his want of
candour, should he add, that it was, nevertheless, extremely awk-
ward English.
• Mm. Gkant, in her " Memoirs of an American Lady," speaking of the state
of religion among the settlers about Albany, says, " Their religion, liko their
original national character, Imd in it little of fervor or enthusiasm; their manner of
performing religious duties, was regular and decent, but calm, and to more
ardent imaginations, might appear mechanical. None ercr doubted of the great
truths of revelation, yet few seemed to dwell on the result with that lively delight
which devotion produces in minds of keener sensibility. If their piety, how-
ever, was without enthusiam, it was also without bigotry ; they wished others to
think as they did, without showing rancor or contempt towards those who did
not In many individuals, whose lives seemed governed by the principles of
religioa, the spirit of devotion seemed to be quiescent in the heart, and to break
forth ID exigencies ; yet that monster in nature, an impious woman, was never
heard of among them.">— Afem^ ckap» v^ — Eo.
250 MR. BACHE — ^MES. BACHE.
The morning after our arrival at this place, we encountered
Mr. Bache in the piazza, which extended the whole length of
the building on the south side. His being an Englisbmaa and
a determined royalist, did not prevent him from accosting us
very civilly, and manifesting a disposition to maintain a friendly
intercourse with us, notwithstanding the difierence in our politi-
cal sentiments. Having long resided in New York, he was ac-
quainted with the grounds of the contest ; and well knew, that
the opposition to the mother country, was not confined to a low
and desperate faction, as it was the fashion among the loyalists
to represent it. He was aware, that his brother in Philadelphia,*
(married to the daughter of Doctor Franklin) had embraced the
Whig side of the question, as well as others of the first respecta-
bility in America ; and was, therefore, perfectly sensible, that we
were not the insignificant rebels, which policy depicted us. Bat
whatever was the motive, the behaviour of Mr. Bache was alto-
gether free from intolerance and party rancour : it was more, it
was hospitable and kind. In addition to frequent invitations to
tea, and to partake of his Madeira, to help us along a little, as
he expressed it, in allusion to the mean fare of Jacob's table, I
was indebted to him for the ofiSer of his purse, although he
neither knew me nor my connexions. As I stood in no need of
it, I declined it, but with a due sense of the obligation the mere
offer imposed. I availed myself, however, of the tender of his
services in executing small commissions for me when he went
to New York, which was almost every day ; and among these,
he once negociated a bill of exchange in my favour, on Major
* Mr. Richard Bache. — He waa married to Sarah Franklin, on the 29th of
October, 1767. It was' of thia patriotic lady, that M. Di Marion thus wrote to
Dr. Frankijn, from Philadelphia, on the 4th January, 1781 :
"If there are in Europe any women, who need a model of attachment to
domestic duties, and love for their country, Mrs. Bachb may be pointed out to
them as such. 8he passed a part of the last year in exertions to rouse the seal
of the Pennsylvania ladies, and she made on this occasion such a happy use of
the eloquence which you know she possesses, that a largre part of the American
army was provided with shirts, bought with their money, or made by their hands.
In her applications for this purpose, she showed the most indefatigable seal, and
the most unwearied perseverance, and a courage in asking, which turptsaed own
the obstinate reluctance of the Quakers in refusing/'^Eo.
CAPTAIN BtJTCHlNS. 251
Small. It might have been this circumstance which led the
Major to a knowledge that my mother, (at whose house he had
long, and at different times, been a lodger, as already men-
tioned,) had sons in the American army. For, on conversing
once with Captain Hutchins, in London, on the subject of the
war, he said to him, ^' would you have believed it, Hutchins,
that Desd{y had two of her sons in arms against us ?" But this
fact could not have appeared quite so unnatural to the Captain,
as it did to the Major, since, not very long after, for bis attach-
ment to the American cause, he was obliged to relinquish the
British service, having first been arrested on a charge of trea-
sonable practices. Captain Hutchins, I think, was a native of
New Jersey.* On his coming over to us, he was appointed to
the post of Geographer-General, which had probably been created
for him. From his long and frequent residence in our house, he
was domesticated in it : He was a worthy and a pious man ; but
one, who, in his continued complaints of the injustice of the
British government, in not fully remunerating his services, be-
trayed but little knowledge of the world. Caesar, it is true, sent
Labienus his pay and baggage, when that officer thbught proper
to join the standard of Pompey; but this was an instance of
sbgular generosity. If Captain Hutchins, after spending the
greater part of his life in the British army, chose to renounce it
for that of America, he should at least have granted to his old
employers, the privilege of some ill humour, and not have been
too outrageous, even though some pecuniary deficiency had been
its consequence: what was patriotism in his eyes — in theirs,
was ingratitude ; and the right of thinking was mutual. But if
these vile monarchists were unjust to a relinquisher of their
cause, what shall we say of the conduct of our own republican
rulers, to old officers, who have always been faithful ? Com-
* Thomas Hutchins, to whom General Washingtov wrote, 20th August, 1786,
Qpon the sabject of ** aatheDtic docnments wanted by the Empress of Russia,
Kspectingr the lan^ajre of the natives of this country, for the purpcee of com-
piling a universal Dictionary.** Washington farther writes :— "Persuaded that a
geoUeman of your taste for science in general, and particularly of your capacity
of acquiring the information in question, will enter upon the task with pleasure,
I make no apology for troubling yoa with it** — Eo.
252 DOMINE REUBELL — DOMINE VAN ZINDER.
paring the destiny of many of these with that of the adherents to
the British government, I fear we shall not all be able to say
with Rousseau : Heureux, toutes les fois que je medUe sur les
govememenSj de trauver toujours dans mes recherckesj de nouvelles
rcdsons d* aimer celui de man pays.*^
Besides Mr. Bache, there were at this time, several New
Yorkers, with their families, residing at Flat-bush. Of these,
Mr. Axtle, was apparently the first in point of wealth and im-
portance. I think he had been of the Governor's council. He
was neatly seated at a country-house at the entrance of the
village from New York ; and I had once the honour of supping
with him, together with eight or ten of my fellow-prisoners, that
had been selected on the occasion. What the object of this
single attention was, could not be divined ; but after partaking
of the hospitality, it would be wrong to ascribe it to other than
a liberal motive, and after having obtained a footing in his
house, it was our own fault that it was not improved. In the
family of Mr. Axtle, there was a Mr. Frederick Depeyster, a
young man better known in the village by the fondling appella-
tion of Feady ; and two young ladies, all of whom, were the
relations of Mrs. Axtle. One of these, a Miss Shipton, had so
much toleration for our cause, as some time after, to many a
Major Giles of our army. Next in consequence to Mr. Axtle,
might be placed Mr. Matthews, the mayor of New York, who
divided his time between the village and the city, in each of
which he had a house. There were also here a Mr. Sherbroke,
and a Mr. Jauncey ; and Major Moncrief, of the British army, a
relation by marriage to Mr. Bache, spent much of his time here,
where he had a daughter. But the principal personage in a low
Dutch village appears to be the Domine, or Minister; and Flat-
bush, at this time, revered her Domine Reubell, a rotund, jolly
looking man, a follower of Luther and a tory, on whom were
billetted Colonels Atlee and Miles. At Flatlands, an adjacent
hamlet, there was also a Domine Van Zinder, a disciple of Cal*
vin, and a Whig. He was in person as well as principles, a
* Happj, so ofleu as I contemplate other gfovernments, to find, in my re-
■earches, as I always do, new reasons for loving that of my own country !
SOCIEXy AT FLAT-BUSH— DOMINE VAN ZINDER. 253
perfect contrast to Mr. Reubell, being a lean and shrivelled little
man, with silver flowing locks, ^^ which streamed like a meteor
to the troubled air," as he whisked along with great velocity in
his chair through Flat-bush. Recalling his figure and triangular
sharp-pointed hat, I have before me, the express image of the
learned Knickerbocker's William the Testy. This latter Domine
was distinguished by a species of pulpit eloquence, which might
be truly said, to ''bring matters home to mens' business and
bosoms." Mr. Bache assured me, that, in once descanting on
the wily arts of the devil, in seducing and ensnaring sinners, he
likened him to my landlord, Jacob Suydam, sneaking and skulk-
ing about to get a shot at a flock of snipes ; small birds of the
plover kind, which, at certain seasons are very numerous on the
beach; and in shooting of which, old Jacob, it seems, was emi^
nently skilful and successful. I was indebted to Mr. Bache for
much other local information ; and was gratified to find, that our
defence of Fort Washington, was considered by the British
officers, as far from pusillanimous or disgraceful.*
There was a fatiguing sameness in our occupations, for which
we had no cure. During a residence of about five months
upon Long Island, I was but once beyond the limits to which
we were restricted, and this was to dine with Mr. Wallace, one
of the principal merchants of New York, who now resided at
Jamaica. Together with Major West and Captain Lenox, I
had been recommended to him by the house of the Nesbits, or
of Conyngham and Nesbit (I am not sure of the firm) in Phila-
delphia, to whose friendship I was also indebted, as it was un-
solicited, for a letter of credit on him, which, however, I had no
occasion to use. An instance, by the by, of the liberal uses of
that commerce, which, in the enlarged and enlightened mind of
Mr. JefiTer^on, only tends to corrupt and narrow the heart ; and
to sink those employed in it, into the most worthless part of the
community. It was this circumstance, which procured us an
invitation to dine with him; td ^hable us to do which, he had
obtained for us a temporary dispensation from our parole, from
* ETen General Howk declafed that the place had been well defended by th0
•*Rebeb.'*-.Eik
22
254 AN EXCURSION — PUBLIC FEELING.
Mr. Loring. We cheerfully availed ourselves of the little va-
riety this visit would afford us, and waited upon Mr. Wallace,
who entertained us with much hospitality. But there was one
incident, I must confess, I did not altogether relish: perhaps it
was designed as a delicate mode of assuring us, that the civility
we received, was not to be considered, in any degree as a tolera-
tion of our principles. After dinner, the son of our entertainer,
a boy of about seven or eight years of age, came into the room,
and his father putting a glass of wine into his hand, asked him
what he drank. " Church and King," pronounced the little
fellow, in an audible voice. I did not know until now, that I
had made so much progress in republicanism. Although loyalty
to the king, had but lately been an ardent feeling in America,
and had certainly been mine ; and although I had recently con*
templated becoming an Episcopalian, from an idea that it was
the duty of all men to conform to the established religion of their
country, where, to their minds, there were no essential objections
to its tenets — yet the sentiment appeared to me degrading and
slavish in the extreme. This is an instance how much our opi-
nions are swayed by our passions and habits, and a corrobora-
tion of the remark of Lord Chatham, "that the first blood drawn
in the contest, would prove an irrUabiU vulnuSj a wound that
could not be healed, but which would fester and mortify the^
whole body."
Upon our first arrival at Jamaica, after putting up our horses
a( 2in inn, we concluded to take a ramble through the town be-
fore we went to Mr. Wallace's. We had accordingly strolled
to nearly the end of the main street, when we observed a soldier,
or non-commissioned officer, coming after us. We suspected
his business to be with us, when approaching with due militaiy
etiquette, he gave us to understand, that he came by order of
Colonel Fanning, who desired to speak with us at his quarters.
We immediately returned with him, and were conducted to the
colonel, who informed us, that he presumed we weie prisoners ;
and if so, as we were wiUiout our limits, he conceived it his
duty to inquire into the cause of it. We told him that we came
to dine with Mr. Wallace, who, we understood, had obtained
permission for us so to do, from the commissary of prisoners
AM EXCUBSION — MB. WALLACE. 255
Had we any certificate or evidence of this ? he asked. We re-
plied, we had not, as we had entirely referred the matter to Mr.
Wallace, and relied upon his assurance that we were privileged.
Finding that he still seemed to consider it a dubious point, whe-
ther we ought to be detained or set at liberty, we thought it time
to assert ourselves, a little, and told him that it was a matter of
the utmost indifierence to us, what part he might adopt. After
a moment's consideration, however, he thought proper to dismiss
us. This Mr. Fanning had been secretary to Governor Tryon,
and now commanded a regiment of new levies, stationed at this
place. Though we assumed some cavalier airs on the occasion,
it cannot be said, that the colonel had exceeded his duty, or be*
trayed any wantonness of authority.
As Mr. Wallace was from Ireland, it probably, would not have
comported with the hospitality of hi^ table, to have suffered us
to leave it, unexhilarated. He pushed the bottle, therefore ; and
detained us, anti-church and king-men, as we were, until we
bad received as much of his Madeira, as we could carry home
with any tolerable convenience.
Among the very few incidents which occurred to vary the
wearisome sameness of Flat-bush, was the arrival, one day, of
two or three officers of the British guards, to pay their respects
to Captain Richardson of Magaw's regiment, who, they had but
lately learned, was the brother of Colonel Francis Richardson,
already mentioned in the early part of these Memoirs. I did not
see them, but the circumstance was related to me by Edwards,
who was cruelly mortified in the reflection, that a worse speci-
men in outward appearance of the officers of our army, could
hardly have been found, than in the person of Captain Richard-*
son. In addition to a mean slouching figure, he was disgustingly
slovenly, and wretchedly calculated to support either the dignity
of his brother or our army. Whether he was unlucky enough
to be found by his visiters, I do not recollect; but it was un-
questionably the interest of those who were piqued for the repu-
tation of the American service, to keep him out of sight, or at
least, to have him furbished up before appearing. As it was the
policy of the enemy to vilify us, and depreciate our cause by re-
presenting its supporters as vulgar and contemptible, it conse-
256
quently stimulated us to appear to as much advantage as possible.
Those who may think we attached too much importance to a
good exterior, in the situation in which we were, know nothing
of the qualifications respected among military men; and they
would betray no less ignorance of the common feelings of man-
kind, should they doubt that the respectability of our army was
not of vast importance to our undertaking : as much, if not more,
I will venture to affirm, than even the respectability of Congress,
a small, invisible body, not possessing the means of sensible im*
pression on the mass of the people. In civil contests, it is highly
requisite for the party in opposition to government, to counteract
the advantage of recognised authority, by an appearance that
may raise them above contempt, than which nothing can be
more unfavourable to them.* This was strikingly exemplified
at least, in our revolution; and is another instance of its dissimi-
larity to that of the French, whose object being the subversion
of society, found its early strength to consist in the vaunted base-
ness of its partisans.
We had now been captive nearly seven months, and the ob-
stacle to an exchange, seemed in no likelihood to be removed.
We had seen the letters which had passed upon the subject, be-
tween the commanders of the two armies; and although we were
satisfied with the reasoning on our side, and consoled in some
degree, by the feeling manner, in which our situation was ad-
verted to by General Washington, we were far from being re-
conciled to our fate. Notwithstanding that Lee's being consi-
dered as a deserter by Sir William Howe, was the ostensible bar,
it occurred to me, that the reluctance felt by Congress to restoring
without an equivalent, the British soldiers in their possession,
was their principal motive for disagreeing to any cartel that
should be attended with that consequence. The rash, though
not undeserved letter to the Council of safety too, stared full in
the face, the unlucky wights, who had been indiscreet enough
*'**The habits and prejudices of the EngltBh people,** sajs Mr. Fox, in his
History of the Reigii of James II., **are in a ^reat degree aristocratical; nor had
he (the Duke of Monmouth) before him, nor indeed have we sinoe his time, had
one single example of an insurrection that was soooetifnl^ qyiaided l}>j the ancienl
famiUes and great landed proprietors.*^
OBSTRUCTIONS TO AN EXCHANGE. 257
to put our names to it: and, as the council might be supposed
to have some influence in the general concerns of the Confedera-
tion, we sometimes, in our desponding fits, conceived ourselves
no less the victims of resentment than of policy. Before our
removal to Long Island, Colonel Miles had been permitted to
visit his family in Pennsylvania ; and as he had been charged
with some proposals relative to an exchange of prisoners, he had
an interview with General Howe, either upon his going in, or
his return. On this occasion, he received no very favourable
impression of the literary talents or critical acumen of his Excel-
lency, who, in commenting on the communications of General
Washington, among other shrewd remarks, observed, that they
were very badly compiled. For the General himself, he expressed
much respect ; but lamented that he was surrounded by a set of
lawyers, who led him astray, and who contributed to, if they
did not solely cause, this bad compilation of his letters. Who
compiled for Sir William, is not ascertained, that I know of, but
I believe it was generally admitted, that in this particular, he
was not better served than General Washington. General Lee
tells us, that '* McKensey, Balfour, and Galloway were his
scribes; and that all the damned stuff which was issued to the
astonished world, was theirs."
Captivity is justly comprehended in the catalogue of human
woes; its poignancy is recognised by Shakspeare in his play of
Othello, and it is among the calamities, which are particularly
adverted to, in the excellent liturgy of the Church of England.
What peculiar sickness of the heart it is, may be collected from
Rowers beautiful allusion to it, in the wailings of Cali9ta.
** So the poor captive in a foreigrn realm.
Stands on the shore and sends his wishes hack,
To the dear, native land from whence he came.**
How often have I done this from the summit of the com- .
manding heights which bounded our district towards Brooklyn,
and afforded an extensive view of East Jersey. Here, like Tom
Jones, from the top of Mazard hill, and for a similar cause, have
I frequently reflected with a sigh upon the vast tract of land,
which lay between me and my home. For although the par-
22*
258 ELEGIAC STANZAS OF THE AUTHOB.
ticular object of my contemplation, was not within my sight, I
had, as was observed of Jones, by his discerning companion, a
pleasure in looking that way. In my melancholy hours, I had
made this spot, the scene of an elegiac essay, where, having lo-
cated my forlorn captive, about sunset, I say, —
Here on the lofty summit ai he stood.
His wistful eyes still soug^ht the western shore ;
There, ting*d with gold, the distant hills he TiewM
Where yet her sons fair freedom's ensign bore.
My unaffected conviction of the poverty of my poetic talent, for-
bids a recital of more than a few stanzas of my fragmentary pro-
duction, which are selected, as well because they serve to show
my impressions at the time, in regard to the cruelty of the enemy,
as that they confer attributes on General Washingtoic , which
seem precisely, those which are the award of the present day,
and will be that of all posterity. After a bitter apostrophe to
Howe for the imputed murder of our soldiery, the doom-de-
nouncing bard proceeds,
For HeaTen is just, and thongh the daxzUing rays
Of royal favour, dignify thy name,
Tet dire remorse shall tear thy future days,
And hbt'ry damn thee to eternal lame.
Then too, shall truth impartially record.
The gen*rous efforts of the patriot few,
Rons*d by their wrongs to draw th* the avenging sword.
And crush fell tyranny's destructive crew.
First in the deathless animating page.
Thy fame, great WASBmoToif ! illostrioos shines ;
Unsullied by the breath of party rage.
More brilliant than GoIconda*ki glittering mines :
For condQct, dignify and valour frmM,
*Midst dark adversity serenely great,
Thy dauntless soul with godlike ardour flam*d
And soarM above the scowling blasts of fiOe.
*IVas then, nuijestic Delaware ! thy wave,
Became immortal from the splendid deed, 6lc
OBSTACLES TO EXCHANGE OF OFilCE&S. 259
When the attempt to settle a cartel had proved abortive, it
was rumored that we were to be shipped for England ; and this
we should generally have preferred to remaining where we were.
We figured to ourselves something of the nature of an adventure
in the measure ; and from what Ethan Allen had told us, we did
not doubt that we should find in it, some sources of gratification*
The step, however, was not rationally to be looked for ; there
could be no inducement to it, though there might be for the
threat, upon the supposition that we had connexions powerful
enough to prevail with Congress for an exchange. The most
sanguine among us, had now given up the hope of deliverance;
and, in addition to the pining tediousness of our situation, that
engine for breaking hearts, the provost-prison, was ever open to
receive the victims of brutal insolence and malignity. That this
was no chimera^ the following incident will prove. Some fel-
lows, one morning, on the road to New York market with fish^
were stopped by Captain Lenox and two other officers. Lieute-
nant Wright of Maryland, and Lieutenant Stewart of Delaware^
I think, who wished to buy some ; but they were told by the
fishmongers, that they would not sell to rebels^ This produced re-»
proacbful langus^e on both sides, when the officers laying hold
of the fish, began to bandy them about the jaws of the ragamuf-
fins that had insulted them. A complaint was immediately
lodged with General Robertson ; the accused were escorted by
a guard to New York, and on the statement of the complainants,
being found in aggression, they were required to make acknow-
ledgements to the injured ; which, refusing to do, they were
forthwith consigned to the custody of the provost-marshal.
With him they remained for two or three weeks ; but, at length,
were released, without being held to the concessions at first de-
manded. Conyngham, it seems, had used them well; partly
owing, probably, to instructions from General Robertson, and
partly to Mr. Lenox's being well supplied with money and ap-
pearing of consequence, which better than any thing else, is cal-^
culated to mollify the heart of a genuine caitiff in power.
It was a generally received opinion among us, that a close
confinement would be a virtual cancelling of our parole ; and
hence, when these gentlemen were returned to their district.
260 CAPTAIN HOCK.
without the exaction of a new one, they submitted it to a board of
officers, whether or not they would be justified in going away.
I forget what officers composed the board ; I only recollect that
Colonel Ethan Allen was one, and that his opinion, was that of
a man of honour and sound casuist. He admitted, that they had
a right to escape from their actual confinement, but that now the
case was altered ; and that, although no new parole had been
given, yet the obligation of the former one, should be considered
as returning on their enlargement ; and that they were under the
same restraint, in point of honour, that they had been before
their commitment to the provost. This was also the opinion of
the board, and unanimously approved, as well by the gentlemen
immediately interested, as by others. I have mentioned this cir-
cumstance, principally to show, that Allen, however turbulent a
citizen under the old regiine, was not the vulgar ruffian, that the
New York royalists represented him.
While in this state of dejection, from the unavailing negotiation
to establish a cartel, an incident, as little expected, as any other
within the compass of possibility, took place. It was, to
the best of my recollection, early in the month of June, that, one
day, meeting with Mr. Christian Huck,* the lawyer, a refugee
from Philadelphia, at Flat-bush, informed me, that my modter
was in New York. The astonishment and even incredulity, I
expressed by my manner, induced him to repeat his assurance
that such was the fact, that he had seen her and conversed with
her, and that I might expect to see her at this place, either on the
* Afterwards Captain Huck, of Tarleton's Dra^poons, I think, and the i
who was killed in South Carolina in 1780-1. *« This Mr. Huck** sajs Mr. Gny.
don, " had read law in Philadelphia, with Mr. Isaac Hunt, before mentioned, and
had received the early part of his education at the Charity School of the Acide-
my, when I was a pupil there. He is spoken of in our accounts of him, as a
monster of profaneness and cruelty. But this ferocity must have been acquired
by the fury with which the war was wagied in the Southern quarter, as I remember
nothing of these tiger-qualities in him, and I knew him from his boyish years op
to those of manhood. If he was distinguished for any thing, it was for an af-
fected sapience and a pretension to more knowledge than be possessed. A wag*
gish fellow-student of his, the late Mr. Edward Tilqhman, aware of this trait in
his character, once asked him if a Felo^ese could inherit an estate, when Hock,
applying his finger to his nose, in an attitude of profound thought, replied, that,
ID some oases, he believed he could.**
AUTHOR VISITED BT HIS MOTHER. 261
present or succeeding day. Although aware that she yielded to
none in the ardour of maternal aJflfection, yet nothing could be
more unlooked for than this event; and even the pleasure 1 pro-
mised myself in seeing her, did not compensate for the disappro-
bation I felt at the imprudence of the undertaking ; improper, in
every point of view, in which I could contemplate it. When I
reflected upon the difficulties she had to encounter, and her
timidity in every mode of travelling, and particularly by water,
which would be occasionally necessary'in her journey, I could not
but conclude, that there must be some very extraordinary motive
for it ; and my desire to meet her, was mixed with a painful
anxiety.
She arrived the day after she had been announced, having hired
a person at Brooklyn, to bring her from thence in a chair. Her
only object, I found, was to see me, and to endeavour to procure
my release on parole ; as she had heard, that we were harshly
treated, and on the point of being sent to England. The fatigue
and anxiety of her journey, had so far overcome her, that on
reaching New York, she had been ill for a few days, and had put
herself under the care of a Doctor Carlton or Charlton, who, though
he appeared to have acquitted himself well enough as a physician,
bad extremely shocked and disgusted her by his intolerant tory-
ism. Upon finding what her errand was, he seemed to take
pleasure in confirming to her, that the prisoners were to be sent
to England, and hanged there, he added, for aught that he knew :
but that, at any rate, it was what they richly deserved. She had
been visited, I learned, by the Aliens, or some of them, Huck,*
as already mentioned, and some others from Philadelphia, who
were anxious to hear what was going on in that quarter. Upon
* General Hknst Ln disposet of Huck in a very summary manner. "Cap-
tain Huck, of Tarleton's legion, had been detached by Lieotenant-Colonel Turn-
BiTLL, commanding at Hanging Rock to disperse some of the exiles of Sooth
Gtrolina, who had lately returned to the State and were collecting in the neigh-
boarhood of that place to assist in protecting their country. The captain, with
forty dragoons, twenty mounted infantry, and sixty militia, ventured thirty miles
up the country where the ^ery exiles he was sent to disperse, attacked and de-
stroyed his detachment The captain, notorious for his cruelties and violence,
was killed, as were several others, and the rest dispersed."— Ed.
262 OBSTACLE TO A RELEASE OF PRISONERS.
mentioning her business to Mr. John Allen, he advised her not to
be scrupulous as to the terms of my release, since the business
would very soon be over, and a pardon be all that could be ob-
tained by any who had borne arms. But before stating what took
place on this side of the lines, let us go back a little to what oc-
curred on the other.
The projected undertaking had been long in contemplation ;
and the friends as well as members of the family had been con-
sulted on the occasion. Some advised it, but the greater part
disapproved ^it. Having acquaintances on both sides, my
mother indiscriminately took their opinions ; and so far as party
feeling appeared to enter into the question, it was observable, that
the tories were for the measure, the whigs against it. The fonner
were, of course, advocates for the benignity of General Howe ;
and as they were incredulous, or affected incredulity, as to the ill
treatment of prisoners, they would have rejoiced in her success,
as an instance to the contrary. The latter, did not, in the first
place, think the application would be of any avail ; and, as upon
this particular occasion, they were in the predicament, which
Rochefoucault tells us, all men are in at all times, viz., that of
" discovering something in the misfortunes of their best friends,
which does not entirely displease them," they would, probably,
have been better satisfied, that we should all have grown old
in captivity, than have become vouchers for British clemency by
an immediate release : As it was inconvenient for Congress to
exchange us, it appeared to them much better that we should re-
main prisoners until the conclusion of the war, if peradventure we
should so long live, than, by coming out on parole, furnish the
tories with a circumstance they might turn to the advantage of
their side. So stem a thmg is patriotism, when the comfort of
third persons only is concerned ! As my mother, however, pos-
sessed too little of the Roman spiiit to be duly moved by such
magnanimous considerations, the feelings of nature prevailed;
and she resolved on the enterprize. She purchased a horse and
chair for the occasion, and set out for Philadelphia, her residence
being at this time at Reading, to which place, she had removed,
with several other families of her acquaintance, in the preceding
winter, when the enemy had penetrated through Jersey to the
MATEBKAL ANXIETY. 263
Delaware. On her arrival in the city, one Fisher, a Scotchman,
and relation of my grandmother, was officious in tendering his
service to drive her to New York. As he was a retailer of dry
goods, his object, no doubt, was traffic ; and to bring home with
him some scarce light articles, in the chair box. The ofier was
accepted ; they set off, and had nearly reached Princeton, when,
to their great astonishment, they were overtaken by a detachment
of cavalry, which had been sent in pursuit of them, with orders to
arrest their progress. The cause was this. Fisher, it seems, was
a tory either real or putative ; and the fact having been made
known to General Mifflin, who was then in the city, it had set him
a fidgeting, and, as no one could exactly foresee the consequences
that might result to the infant nation, should a suspected Scotch
shop-keeper get out of Philadelphia into New York ; the hue and
cry on the occasion, was proportionably eager and vehement. It
cannot be denied, however, that the proceeding was quite in
rule. The culprits were immediately taken into custody; but
my mother^s guilt being merely that of bad neighbourhood,
{fdmium vicina Cremona^) having been wholly ignorant of
tiie political tenets of her companion, she was conducted to
the quarters of General Sullivan, who commanded at this
post. Here she remained until due order was taken in the pre-
mises, when, she found, that, instead of proceeding on herjour-
ney, she was under the necessity of retracing her steps towards
Philadelphia, under an escort of horse. When they had got
back as far as Bristol, means were found for Mr. Fisher, the
only prisoner, to pursue his way, without the chair, with which
he had been accommodated so far; and Colonel M^Ivaine, an
old and particular friend, and indeed connexion of the family,
kindly offering to accompany my mother to the Head Quarters of
our army, from whence, the proper measures might be taken for
her proceeding into the British lines ; her horse's head was once
more turned towards New York. They reached the hospitable
mansion of Mr. Vanhome, of Bound-brook, on the evening of
the day they set out. It fortunately turned out, that he had
been acquainted with my father, and having connexions in
Brunswick, he furnished my mother with a letter of introduction
extremely useful to her, on her arrival there. Passing over un-
5264 MATEBNAL ANXIETY.
important particulars, she was condacted with her horse and
chair to the enemy's lines, by Major Scull, who was then obliged
to leave her, and commit her to the courtesy of some Hessian
officers, who were on duty there. It happened, during the cere-
mony of the flag, that a gun was somewhere discharged on our
side of the lines. This infringement of military etiquette, was
furiously resented by the German officers, who expressed them-
selves with a vehemence of gesture extremely alarming to my
mother, who discovered what it related to, from the frequent
repetition of the "words flag of truce; the only ones she under*
stood. She supported herself as well as she could, under this
inauspicious introduction into the hostile territory ; and remain-
ing in her chair, her horse was led by a soldier to the quarters
of General Matthew or Matthews, who commanded in Bruna*
wick.* Here, she alighted, and was shown into a parloar,
where, in a few minutes, were set before her a decanter of wine
and some biscuits. Being faint, and much in need of refresh-
ment, she helped herself to a biscuit, and drank two glasses of
wine ; the first having proved so cordial and restorative to her
dejected spirits, as to induce her to take a second. General
Matthews did not keep her very long in waiting; and, on his
appearing, being made acquainted with her object, and desire
of being passed on to New York, as soon as might be conve-
nient, he promised it should be attended to: his manner was
that of a man of humanity and perfect good breeding. Upon
leaving the General's quarters, her first care was to deliver the
letter of Mr. Vanhome. She readily found the house of the
person to whom it was addressed, (I think Mr. Clarkson) was
invited in, and seated alone in a parlour. There soon affer
came in two or three British officers, who, entering into conver-
sation with the ease of men of fashion, gave her to understand
that there had been a ball the preceding evening, at which had
been the Miss Vanhome's, the ladies whom they now called to
see. These gentlemen, one of whom was Sir John Wrottesley^
* There U a General Mattbcw spoken of by Mr. Cumberland near the close of
hia Memoirs. A eon of Mr. Comberland had married tiie General^s dangler,
and he is called ** a truly noble and benevolent genUeman.** In all probability he
Is the same who commanded at Brunswick.
BBITISH POST — OFFICEBS — ^DUNOP. 265
were such frequent visiters at this house, that my mother, during
her stay in it, became pretty well acquainted with them, as I
found, upon her once meeting Sir John, with Miss Susan Van-
home, in the street of Flat-bush. Accosting her in a very
sociable manner, he adverted to the circumstance of her finding
me, who had then the honour of being introduced to him ; and less,
I cannot say, British baronet though he was, since his demeanour
was tiuly gentlemanly and worthy of his rank. By the same
means, she had the opportunity of often seeing Colonel Donop,*
a Major Hendricks and a Major Pauli, all of the German troops ;
the latter of whom, was polite enough to take charge of her horse
and chair; to promise to send them to Mr. Vanhorne's, at
Bound-brook, and in the mean time, to supply the necessary
forage.
Tliere were five of the Misses Vanhome, all handsome and
well bred, who, not long after, with their mother, a widow lady,
removed from this place to Flat-bush. A Mr. Clarkson, who
was a connexion of theirs; if I mistake not, their unCle by mar-
riage, and the very gentleman, at whose house they staid at
Bionswick, and at which, my mother was so hospitably enter-
tained, had a house also at Flat-bush. Being a whig, he had
left it on the approach* of the enemy; and it had been a good
deal injured by the Germans. He was now permitted to return
to it ; and Mrs. Vanhome and her daughters came along with
him* Perhaps the way to this measure, was smoothed by the
interest of the officers already mentioned ; and ladies often are
the means of mitigating the ferocities of war.
After being detained a week or more at Brunswick, my mother,
with a number of other passengers, embarked in a sloop or
shallop, for New York. The vessel in hei^ passage, was fired
upon by some of our people from the shore, but Without injury
* Count DoNOP ; He was made a ptimAei at tted^Bank> attd WisauMtoN, in
hi* letter to CHEUTorBXR Greinx, October 24th, 1777, says, ''Count Donop in
puiieolar, is a man of importancei and ongrht bj all means to be taken care of!**
M He died of bis wounds,*' says Sparks^ ''three days after the action, at a boose
near the fort A short time before his death, he said to Monsieur Dnplessis, &
French officer, who constantly attended him in his illness. ' It is finishingr %
noble career early ; I die the yictim of my ambition and of the aTarice of m^
flovereign.* **— Ea
23
266 SIR 6E0B6E OSBOANE — ^BON HOT.
to any one, and the destined port was at length attained without
farther difficulty. Among the many unexpectedly agreeable
circumstances of her situation at Brunswick, there were some
unpleasant ones she had no means of avoiding. Although the
political conversation of the British officers ought to have been
restrained in the presence of the Misses Vanhorne, who had some
relations in our Service, it was sometimes such as to be ex-
tremely offensive to an American ear. An instance of this kbd
arose from the following circumstance. A young man of our
army had been recently killed by the British cavalry, and his
body so cruelly hacked and mangled by their sabres, that General
Washington thought proper to send it in for their inspection.
It was brought to the post of Sir George Osborne, who with much
admired sangfroid^ simply returned for answer, that he was no
coroner. This circumstance was a theme of considerable merri-
ment, and the bon mot of Sir George not a little applauded.
As Mr. Bache with his family, had been latterly a good deal
in New York, and, consequently, his part of Mr. Say dam's
house, become less necessary to him, he permitted my mother
to occupy k during her stay at Flat-bush. This was highly con-
venient to her^ and she became, in some degree, naturalized to
her new situation. Her accustomed flow of good spirits re-
turned ; and as she came pretty well supplied with cash, she
contrived to get something better than clippers and suptm; and
to give one or two tea-drinkings, at which the rebel clan that
attended them, was honoured with the company of some of the
Misses Vanhorne, avowed whigs, notwithstanding their civility
to the British officers. She also availed herself of the opportunity
of learning from Major Williams, the art of making Johnny
cakes, in the true Maryland fashion ; and good part of an after-
noon, I remember^ was spent in the notable cookery. But these
recreations did not interfere with the object of her expedition,
and her design of getting me home. I, in vain, endeavoured
to dissuade her from her purpose. She was resolved to prove
the result of an application ; and, in this view, in one of her first
visits to New York, called upon Mr. Galloway, who was sup-
posed to have much influence at Head Quarters. He spoke en-
couragingly of the attempt, add said, he had little doubt, but it
APPLICATIONS FOR THE AUTHOR's RELEASE. 267
wottld succeed. What would be the proper mode of applying
to Sir William Howe ? she asked. By memorial, said Mr. Gal-
loway ; at the same time, kindly offering to sketch one out for
her, if she chose it. As she could do no less than accept his offer,
and thank him for it, he went to work, and in a few minutes
produced, what he said, accorded with his ideas on the subject.
He then read to her, what he had written, purporting, that,
"Whereas Mrs , had always been a true and faithful sub-
ject of his Majesty George the Third ; and whereas, her son, an
inexperienced youth, had been deluded by the arts of designing
men," '^ 0, sir," said she, " that will never do ; my son can-
not obtain his release on these terms." ''Then, madam," said
he, somewhat peevishly, "I can do nothing for you." She en. ,
deavoured to soften as well as she could, the refusal to comply
with what he had recommended, and left him, a good deal
depressed in her expectations. Fearful, that, in her ardour to
obtain her object she might be tempted to go too far, I had cau-
tioned her against yielding to any improper concessions ; and
had solemnly declared, that I would accept of my enlargement
upon no other terms than those of an exchange, or a parole.
This first discomfiture, did not induce an abandonment of her
pursuit : in a matter which interested her feelings, no one was
more persevering; and she continued to advise with every one,
she thought likely to have influence, and a disposition to assist her.
Among the rest, she addressed herself to a Mr. Andrew Elliot, a
person of respectability, and well known both in Philadelphia
and New York. His advice was, that she should go at once in
person to General Howe. Those you have applied to, or may
apply to, said he, have little or no interest, though they may not
choose to say so; but a direct, personal application to the
Commander-in-chief, will, I verily believe, be propitious to your
wishes. She had been some time between Flat-bush and New
York, before this was suggested to her ; and she secretly re-
solved to take an opportunity of putting it in execution. On
one of her excursions to the city, she had been waited upon by
her old acquaintance. Captain Grant, of the forty-second regi-
ment. From him she found, that Colonel Stirling, and most of
the old officers of the regiment, were there ; but upon Grant's
399 APPLICATION TO GENERAL HOWE.
being unable to deny, that he, and consequently, the rest of
them, knew, she had a son a prisoner, she at once testified by
the coldness of her manner, that she had expected somethiog
better from them than a total neglect of me. Unacquainted with
the human heart, under the baneful influence of party fury, and
making no allowance for the repulsive nature of misfortune,
especially when coupled with imputed guilt, she had made cal-
culations little warranted by the practice of the world, more par-
ticularly of that part of it, which is flushed with prosperity.
On account of ^me meditated operation of the army, no one
at this time wa9 permitted to pass the lines ; and so far from get-
ting m.e home with her, she was not without anxiety respectiBg
ber own return, which had been already longer protracted than
$he had couAted upon. T)m interdiction of intercourse continued
for several weeks ; but as soon as it was removed, and it became
probable, that Greneral Howe's attentipn was less engrossed by
great concerns, she determined to give the advice of Mr. Elliot^
a trial. Accordin^y, on^e morning she went to New Yoric, and
without acquainting me with ber design, which she knew I would
oppose, boldly waited upon Sir William Howe ; and addng to
speak with him, was shown into a parlour, where, taking a seat,
and meditating upon the maimer of addressing him when he should
appear, he came into the room, and had got pretty near her before
$he perceived him. Rising, she said, ^' Sir William Howe, I
presume !" He answered by a bow^ She then made known her
business, doubtless in her best style of elocution, and concluded
by expressing the greatness of her obligation for his Hxcellency's
permission for me to go home with her on parole. <<And then
immediately to take up arms agavist us again, I suppose !" said
the General. <^ By no means, sir ; I solicit his release upon parole ;
that will restrain him until exchanged ^ but on my own part, I wiS
go farther^ and say, that if I have any influence over him> he shall
never take up arms again." Here, the feelings of the patriot
were wholly lost in those of the "war^letesting" mother. The
Qeneral seemed to hesitate, but gave no answer. On the renewal
of her suit, however, he appeared by his manner, for be was
sparing of words to assent, and so she construed it. But to put
the matter out of doubt, she asked: '< Have I your Excellency's
AUTHOR LIBERATE!) ON PAROLE. 269
permission for my son to go home with me on his parole ?" Bow-
mg, he answered " yes." " May Colonel Miles and Major West,"
added she, be permitted to go also ?" " Now, madam," observed
the General, "you are making two requests instead of one."
She begged his pardon for presuming to do so, as she ought cer-
tainly to be satisfied with the great favour already granted ; and
inquired if she was to mention the matter to Mr. Loring. He
said it was unnecessary, as the proper measures would be taken
to effect the purpose. The reason of her mentioning Colonel
Miles, and Major West, was, that they had already obtained a
promise of being liberated on parole ; and she was apprehensive,
that unless they were put upon the same footing with me, I should
suspect improper terms had been made, and mar the whole busi-
ness. This caution, probably, was unnecessary ; the boon was
extended to these gentlemen, as I presume it would have been,
had they not been mentioned. From the General's quarters she
immediately went to Mr. Loring, whom she had known in Phila-
delphia, where he had some time resided, and acquainted him
with the indulgence which had been granted her; upon which, he
was pleased to observe, that it was more than I was entitled to,
as not one of the prisoners had been more upon his high horse.
Whatever grounds there maybe for ascribing cruelty to General
Howe, it must be admitted, that no obduracy appeared at this in-
terview ; and I have been careful to give it, precisely as it was
related by my mother. War, indeed, in its essence is cruelty, espe-
cially civil war: Its tendency is to make men ferocious and merci-
less. In conflicts, in which our lives are continually at stake, we
at length become callous even to the loss of our own party, and
have, of course, still less concern for the destruction of our ad-
versaries, notwithstanding, that particular situations may some-
times call forth striking examples of sympathy and generosity.
When, moreover, we consider the foe as obnoxious to legal
punishment, our hearts are too apt to be steeled against all "com-
punctious visitings of nature." Such seems to be the nature of
man ; and the apathy of Howe to the miseries of his prisoners,
serves to show that he was too like the bulk of his species, ever
prone to severity against the opposers of established authority,
when partaking of, or friendly to it. What was the conduct of
23*
270 BEFLECnONS ON WAB.
the Duke of Alva, in the Low Countries ? That of the British,
which we, as liege subjects, did not then disapproTe, against the
rebels in the year forty-six, commemorated by Smollet, in his
<^ Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn ?" What were the hideous
enormities of the French republicans, against the people of La
Vendety and what mercy was evinced towards Burr, by the hi^
toned adTocates of prerogative, under the mild sway of Mr. Jef-
ferson? Though the abuse of power is always detestable, yet it
may not be improper to look at home, before we devote otheis
to destruction as monsters of unheaid of cruelty. I neither have
palliated, nor do I mean to palliate the sufferings of the prisoneis
at New York : they were shoddng to humanity, and no one wit-
nessed them with more anguish than myself; but this is no reason
that we should not ask ourselves whether k was to be expected,
that they were at once to be set at liberty, and if not, what other
mode or place of confinement was within the power of the
enemy? or if the want of good and sufficient ibod, and other ac-
commodation;^ was. the cause of the mortality, are we perfectly
sure they had better ta administer? If, in an entirely new state
of the world, we are, on account of former injuries, to reject the
aid of the only nation upon earth which has power to rescue us
firom impending perdition, it certainly behoves us, to inquire
calmly into the extent of her agj^essions, and for our own sdkes,
if not for hers, or the sake of justice, to admit the effect of any
alleviating circumstances which may be found. But few of us, I
trust, are in the uxihappy predicament, to have been so hysterically
alarmed during the war, as to be unable to forgive; or to have
mcurred disgraces which can only be washed out and avenged
^y the common destruction of our old enemy and ourselves.
▲UTHOB LEAVES NEW YOBK. 271
CHAPTER XI.
The Author leaves Long Itlaiu} for New Tork and Etizabetfatown.*— Ant&or av^
riTCfl at New Tork.— TraTeltmg Companions^ — ^Tench G>xew— ArriTal at tiM>
American Camp. — General Washington. — Colonel Hamilton. — American
Army ^-General Wajme.— Otcarrences on the Road.— Antfaor arrives at Phila*
delphia.— Arrival at Reading;— Political I^lings^ — Deelaratio» of fiidepend^
ence. — Character of Franklid.— Leading Men. — Mr. Canoik.
It was not long before the welcone summons: arrived for our
repairing to New York, for the purpose of being transported firomi
thence in a flag vessel to Elizabetktewn ; and upon this occa*
sion, we were escorted to the enct of the village, by a no snail
troop of our less lucky fellow-prisoners. It was made a condi<^
tion by Loring, that our boarding should be paid before we left
Flat-bush; and the heart oTold Jacob, was accordingly gladdened!
by the sight of a sun of money he had despaired of receiving;.
He and I parted very good friends; and it was but jiutice to say,
that the treatment I received from hioa and his fanuly, Mr. and
Mrs. Magerman, was both civil and obliging. Aa there was no
subject upon which we, prisoners, had been so much in the dark,,
and were at the same tiioe, so anxious to be informed of, as that
of the state of our army and public affairs in general, Tudor„
on my coming away,, furnished me with a kind of cypher, by
which, as soon as I had time to inform Myself^ I was to satisfy
him by letter on certain points he particularly wished to know*
The disguise was not in the character, but in the substitution of
one piece of information for anothei, — for instance, a lady who-
was to be named, was to signify the army, and if that was strong
and in a prosperous train, it was to be indicated by announcing*
the health and charming looks of the lady. There was a scale
b the key, by which the intelligence might be graduated; and
1
272 AUTHOR ARRIVES AT NEW YORK.
it was so contrived, as to admit of the transmission of pretty
satisfactory information in a few important particulars. Know-
ing the deep interest that was taken in the expected communi-
cation, it was among my first cares on getting home, to perform
this duty. But I must admit, that my statements, though correct
in the main, were rather more flattering, than rigid truth would
warrant. I could not endure the thought of reducing my com-
panions in misfortune to despair. It was certainly admissible on
this occasion, to adopt the practice of painters; and in pre-
serving the lineaments and character of the countenance, to ren-
der the portrait as pleasing as possible. It had the effect, as I
afterwards learned, to put them in good heart: for, although I
had not said every thing which might have been wished, it was
ascribed to a propensity I was supposed to have, of looking
rather on the unfavourable side of things ; and as I, so little san-
guine, had ventured to say so much, it was inferred, that I
might, with truth have said a great deal more.
The particulars of this pleasing trip to New York, have en-
tirely escaped my memory; as, how we travelled, though I pre-
sume it was in a wagon for the convenience of carrying our
baggage; whether it was in the forenoon or afternoon ; Aether
we left the city on the day we reached it, &c., though as to this,
it is more than probable, that it was not until the day after, as I
well recollect breakfasting with my mother at the house of Mr.
Matthews, the Mayor, and that his daughter, who entertained us^
was so much to my taste, that, for the moment I quite forgot the
politics of her father, and might even have swerved, perhaps^
from my loyalty to an allegiance, a thousand times sworn else-
where. But it must not be imagined from the circumstance of
this breakfast, that I had apostatized from my principles. I have,
fortunately, an excuse for accepting civilities from the offspring
of an inveterate, and reputedly persecuting tory, which, I am
not without hope, will obtain my pardon from the most deter-
mined and least compounding republican of the present hour.
A Miss Seymour, a cousin of Miss Matthews, had long been de-
sirous of getting to Philadelphia to see her father who lay sick
there; and as it was known to Mr. Matthews that my mother
was soon to go thither, he had made himself acquainted with
UR. TENCH COZE. 273
her, and recommended his niece to her protection in the medi-
tated journey. This it was, that procured me the honour of
breakfasting with Miss Matthews, with whom her cousin stayed.
But who, pray, was this sick Mr. Seymour? methinks I hear
some high-toned, fastidious seveniysix man exclaim. He was,
you may rest assured, sir, no ^^anti-revolutionary adherent of
the enemy." He was no less a personage than Commodore
Seymour, who, at this time, had the command of the Delaware
gun-boats. — ^Yes, Commodore of the gun-boats! Another pecca-
dillo, if haply they may be so called, of a similar complexion, I
must confess myself guilty of; though, from an exuberance of
good fortune, not always attending my imputed apostacies, I
have, if I would avail myself of it, an equally good come off
here. To make a prqfert then of my offence with its ablution
aloDg with it, I undertook to bring out, and actually did bring
out with me, at the request of Mr. Tench Coxe, now in the full
tide of republican orthodoxy, a letter to a lady in Philadelphia*
to be delivered by my own hand to another lady in that city ;
which commission I faithfully executed. I cheerfully did that
for him, which shortly before, would have been the greatest
favour to myself:
Haod ignanii mail, miseiis raoeurere disco.
Having alluded to this gentleman before, and in a manner, that
may not be pleasing to him, although I have said nothing which
does not arise from facts, of which he will not deny the correct*
ness, I here sincerely avow, that I am much more disposed to do
him a good than evil oflBce. Notwithstanding the contrasted vi-
cissitudes of our fortune, and that the great eras of his political
ascension, have been those of my depression,! have not forgotten
our boyish days, of which he, not long since put me in mind;
my early acquaintance in his family ; the pleasant hours I have
passed with himself and his brother (nearer my own age) as well
at his father's house in town, as at his seat on the Schuylkill ;
and that his mother was always spoken of by mine, as the near-
est friend of her youth. Such recollections are far more grateful
to the heart, than the bitter collisions of interested manhood, or
the ^'fuiy passions'' of political dissension.
But not to linger in New York at a moment so precious, I
274 ABRIYAL AT THE AMEUCAH CAMP.
bare to state, that after the signing of a new parole by Miles,
West and mjself, at the office of Mr. Loring, our little party with
tJie addition of Miss Seymour, embarked in a small sloop for
Elizabethtown-point, then held by us. The officer commanding
on this occasion, was a son of Doctor Auchmuty, among the
most distinguished in New York, for his zeal in the royal cause.
The behaviour of this gentleman was perfectly agreeable to us;
and we parted on the most civil terms. It is not impossible,
though such rapid promotions are hardly to be looked for in the
British army, that he may be the General Auchmuty, who not
long since, acquitted himself so well at Montevideo; as he was
stated in the newspapers to be a son of the Doctor.* The wea-
ther being fine, but with very little wind, our passage was a
pleasant one ; and in the course of the day, we had once more
the happiness of treading our own ground. I should in vain en- |
dea vour to describe my feelings on this occasion ; for althou^ |
they were chastised by the recollection, that my present liberty |
was held on sufferance, they were yet light, joyous and tumultu-
ary. I had been about eight months captive ; and it was more
than a year since I had seen Philadelphia. It must now have
been from my best data for ascertaining it, about the middle of
July. Our army lay at Morristown ; and after casting about for
the means of being conveyed thither, we, at length, found them
in a coal-wagon, little inferior to a coach and six, in a journey,
which too much crowded the mind with pleasing ideas, to admit
of much concern about the choice of a vehicle. When within a
few miles of our destination, we met the General, on horseback,
with three or four attendants. He recognised us, and stopping
a few minutes congratulated my mother on the success of her
errand ; and at going on, informed us, that he should return to
camp in a few hours, where he expected to see us. By his ap-
* LicuTXNANT^KNKRAL SiR Samuu. Aucbmutt. — He wat the youngest mo of
the Reverend Dr. Auchmuty, Rector of Trinity Church, New York ; wat bom
June 22d, 1758, and received hit education at King's (now Columbia) College.
He joined the Royal army under Sir Wm. Howe, as an ensign in the 45th
regiment, in 1776. Mr. Graydon in a note, says, «* He was, I remember, ra*
ther a serious young man, modest and unassuming in his manners, though I
should have supposed him one or two and twenty, instead of nineteen, which the
4ate of his birth made him at the time leferred to.**— En.
GENERAL WASHINGTON — COLONEL HAMILTON. 275
pointment, on his return, Colonel Miles, Major West and myself
waited upon him at his marquee in the evening. In the course
of conversation, he asked what we conceived to be the objects
of General Howe, provided the question did not, in our opinion,
interfere with our parole. Colonel Miles taking the word, re-
plied, that in his opinion, he meditated a co-operation with the
northern army by means of the Hudson. The General heard
him out, and then observed, that indications and probabilities
both tended to that conclusion ; but, that nevertheless, he had
little doubt, that his object was Philadelphia. I mention this, as
it is stated by Mr. Marshall, that he was a good deal embarrassed
on this occasion, and rather inclined to believe, that the move-
ments of General Howe would be up the Hudson. Whatever
might have happened afterwards to alter or unsettle his opinion,
it was certainly at this time, as I have mentioned ; and he spoke
as if his conviction was strong. He had unquestionably good
intelligence ; and a person who had communicated with him,
had, not long before, been executed as a spy at Brunswick.
This man, who generally resided at New York, under the dis-
guise of a zealous royalist, had been indiscreet enough to unbo-
som himself to Major Williams, who, in the spring of this year,
on the prospect of an exchange, which however proved abortive,
bad been summoned to that city. He gave him much informa-
tion as to what was passing there ; and among other things
which regarded us, told him, that interest had been made for my
going out on parole, but I was considered not sufficiently well
disposed^ (the fashionable phrase for yielding whiggism,) to be
entitled to the indulgence. It was but a few weeks after this
interview with Williams, that, in attempting to induce two Bri-
tish soldiers to desert to our army with intelligence, he was de-
tected and suffered.
The day of our arrival and the succeeding one, we spent at
Morristown ; and here, for the first time, I had the pleasure of
knowing Colonel Hamilton. He presided at the General's table,
"where we dined ; and in a large company in which there were
several ladies, among whom I recollect one or two of the Miss
Livingstons and a Miss Brown, he acquitted himself with an ease,
propriety and vivacity, which gave me the most favourable im-
276 COLONEL HAMILTON.
pressioD of his talents and accomplishments— -talents, it is trae,
which did not indicate the solid abilities his subsequent career
has unfolded, but which announced a brilliancy which might
adorn the most polished circles of society, and have fitted him
for the part of an Algarotti at the court of a Frederick.
" Vom, qae 1m graces et les rii
Formerent poor flatter et plaire,**
to borrow the words of the long, in an address to this fitvonrite:
Or in reference to his later conduct and matured capacity, where
shall we find one to whom the language of Tibullus to Messala,
would better apply !
^ Nam qaii te majora gerit eaitrwve, ftrore 7**
"Who the ttate*! thander, better fbrmM to wield.
And shake alike the senate and the field !**•
* SuLLiTAif, in his ** Familiar Letters,** alreadj quoted, says, ** The eloqa
of Hamilton was persnasife and commanding ; the more so as he had no guide
bat the impulse of a great and rich mind, he having had little opportonitj to be
trained at the bar, or iu popular assemblies. Those who could speak of hta manr
ner from the best opportunities to obserre him, in public and private, coneiirTed
in pronouncing him to be a firank, amiable, high-minded, open-hearted gentleman*
He was capable of inspiring the most affectionate attachment ; but he could make
those, whom he opposed, fear and hate him oordiaUj."
Haeuson Geat Ons, of Boston, deli?ered there an eolQgj upon Hamiltok,
and the fbUowing is a concluding paragraph of his eloquent performance: **The
universal sorrow, maniftsted in every part of the Union upon the melancholy
exit of this great man, is an unequivocal testimonial of hb public worth. The
place of his residence is overspread with a gloom which bespeaks the pressure
of a public calamity ; and the prejudices of party are abaorbed in the oterilowing
tide of national grieC**
The man, thus honoured and lamented, and whose reputation grows sliU
brighter with the lapse of time, was one of those towards whom Ma. Jefvcbsoii,
as we learn fhxn his own **Correspondenoe,** cherished a degree of ** envy, hatred
and malice,** which it is difficnlt to believe even party rsge and malevolenen,
however violent and bitter, could have prompted and shstained. Yet this active,
tnergetU enmity, could not long operate injuriously to the character of such ft
man as HAMiLTOif, while the **great AposUe of Oemocracy,** in his own carelblly
preserved and ostentatiously published ■* Writings," has greatly aided Postarity
in finding for Aon an appropriate niche in the temple of fame.
** In that remarkable chronicle of slander and secondJiand abuse, the Amm-
of Jeflferson, Hamilton,** says the New York Re?iew, " is assailed no lees than
•est titssn times; just ooe-fburth of all Mr. Jefferson*s on diU are levelled agminal
the man whom he felt to be, of all others, his most dangerous eonpetilor for the
highest honours of his country*** — En.
COLONEL TILGHMAN — CONDITION OF THE ABMY. 277
With Colonel Tilghman,* another of the General's aids, I was
well acquainted, as he was a Philadelphian, and had been a
lieutenant of the light infantry company of Greens, already men*
tioned. By him and Colonel Hamilton, I was taken in the even-
ing to drink tea with some of the ladies of the village, where
were also those with whom we had dined.
I had been extremely anxious to see our army. Here it was,
but I could see nothing which deserved the name. I was told,
indeed, that it was much weakened by detachments ; and I was
glad to find, there was some cause for the present paucity of sol-
diers. I could not doubt, however, that things were going well.
The Commander-in-chief and all about him, were in excellent
spirits ; and as to Greneral Wayne, whom I waited upon at his
quarters, he entertained the most sovereign contempt for the
enemy. In his confident way, he affirmed, that the two armies
had interchanged their original modes of warfare. That for our
parts, we had thrown away the shovel, and the British had taken
it up, as they dared not face us without the cover of an intrench-
ment. I made some allowance for the fervid manner of the
(jreneral,t who, though unquestionably as brave a man as any in
* Colonel Tknob TiLoaMAN. — General WASHiNGToir thus writes to General
SuLUTAN in Congress, May, 1781: ** This gentleman came out a captain of one
of the light infantry companies of Philadelphia, and served in the flying camp in
1776. In August of the same year he joined my family, and has been in every
action in which the main army was concerned. He has been a zealous serrant
and slave to the pnUic, and a faithful assistant to me for nearly five years, a
great part of which time he refused pay. Honour and gratitude interest me in
his fiivonr and make me solicitous to obtain his commission. His modesty and
love of concord place the date of his expected commission at Uie 1st of April,
1777, because he would not take rank of Hamilton and Mbaob, who were de-
dared Aids in order (which he did not choose to be) before that period, although
he had joined my family and done all the duties of one, from the 1st of September
preceding." Tilghman was despatched by Washington to Congress with intel-
ligenoe of the surrender of Comwallis, and ** a horse properly caparisoned^ and an
elegant sword, were given to him.'' Colonel Tilghman died in Baltimore in
April, 1786* in his 43d year. His death was deeply regretted by General Wasb.
moTON, and Roiirt Morris^ in a letter to the General^ said: '* You have lost in
him a most faithful and valuable friend. He was to me the same. I esteemed
him verjt very much, and I lamented his loss exoeedingly;" — Ed.
t In bravery, in heroic achievement^ and in devotion to the cause of his coun-
try in all its phaseS) he was unsurpassed, and his abilities as a commander were
24
^8 GENERAL WAYNE.
the army, was nevertheless, somewhat addicted to the yaunting
style of Marshal Villars, a man who, like himself, could fight as
well as brag. By the bye, I do not know whether this talent
might not have been of use in our army: it certainly is, or at
least is considered to be so, in a French one, since, of all the gas-
conaders in the world, the Gallic commanders must confessedly
take the pcis. It had been humourously stated in the English
prints, that upon a gentleman, who had been in America and seen
our troops, being asked, what was their uniform, he replied:
^Mn general, it is blue and buff, but by this time it must
be all buff!" The period for this unity of colour, however,
had not yet arrived; though from the motley, shabby cover-
ing of the men, it was to be inferred that it was rapidly
approaching. Even in General Wayne himself, there was
in this particular, a considerable falling off. His quondam
regimental, as Colonel of the 4th battalion, was, I think, blue
and white, in which he had been accustomed to appear with ex-
emplary neatness ; whereas he was now dressed in character for
M'Heath or Captain Gibbet, in a dingy red coat, with a black,
rusty cravat, and tarnished laced hat. In short, from all I could
see, I was by no means warranted in supposing that our affairs
were in a very prosperous train, notwithstanding the cheerful
appearance at Head Quarters : but I endeavoured to suspend my
opinion until I should have longer and better means of forming
a conclusion.
We hired a wagon at this place, to carry us to Mr. Vanhome's
at Bound-brook, where my mother expected to find her horse
and chair, agreeably to the arrangement made with Major Pauli.
This was a subject of much raillery on the road, particularly with
Colonel Miles, who could not persuade himself that a Hessian
could forego so fine a chance of plunder ; and he took it for
granted, that the Major had not only appropriated the equipage
to himself, but sold it long since, and put the proceeds in his
pocket. But, on the contrary, in the strutting phraseology of
Burgoyne, he had been ^' conscious of the honour of soldiership,'^
of a ?ery high order. His life it a history of the war. He was at Tioooderogm,
Brunswick, Brandy wine, Germantown, White Marsh, Monmoath, Stony Pointy
and in several other engagements ; — always efficient, and always diatingalshed^
He died in December, 1796, in the 53d year of his age^—En.
COLONEL BLAND— GENERAL HENRY LEE. 279
and with good faith perfonned what he had promised. We had,
in fact, met the poor beast in question, on the road to Morristown,
but quantum muiatus ab illo ! how changed from the sleek, well-
fed animal, that had, about six weeks before, entered the town of
Brunswick! A constant padding of the hoof for this space of
time, first on the royal and then on the rebel side, with such
casual supplies of forage as campaigning affords, had reduced
him to the continental standard ; and although it had been sug-
gested to my mother as he passed with the chair, that they might
be hers, she was unable to recognise either : the chair she could
not claim, and as to the horse, she was sure he was not hers.
Whether there were any arrangements with Mr. Vanhorne, I
do not know ; but his hospitality ought certainly to have been
recompensed, by an unlimited credit on the public stores.* His
house, used as a hotel, seemed constantly fuU. It was at this
time occupied by Colonel Bland,t of the Virginia cavalry, and
the officers of his corps, to whom we were introduced; and among
others, if my memory does not mislead me, to Captain Lee, after-
wards so distinguished as a partisan, and now known as General
Harry Lee. J Notwithstanding the number of guests that were to
* This Mr. Vanhornz, however, appeart to have been a aaapicious character,
if it is of him that General WknnitiaTOH thus speaka in his letters to General
Rexd. In the first, dated January 12th, 1777, he sajs: —
"I wish you had brought Vanhorne off with you, for, from his noted charaoter,
there is no dependence to be placed on his parole.*' In the other, of 19th January,
of the same year, he says : ** Would it not be beat to order P. Vanhorne to Brnnsr
wick 7 These people, in my opinion, can do us less injury there than any where
else.'* He kept his poet notwithstanding, at Bound.Brook, where he alternately
entertained the officers of both armies, being visited sometimes by the one, and
■ometimes by the other.
1 Colonel Thiodorio Bland— of the first regiment of light dragoons, was
appointed to superintend the march of the Convention troops to Charlottesville i
Virginia, and was directed by Washington to take command there. He was the
author of a Treatise on Military Tactics, which was approved and strongly re?
oommended by the Commander-in-chief. General H. Lxr speaks of him in his
Memoirs, as ** noble, sensible, honourable and amiable." — Eu.
t This gallant and celebrated officer was a graduate of Princeton College, and
during the whole war was actively and usefully employed. He commenced his
brilliant public career as ** a Captain of one of the six companies of cavalry,
raised in Virginia, and in 1777, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bland, he joined the
L Provincial army.** By his discipline and care of his men and horses, he
280 GENERAL HENRY LEE.
be provided for, there appeared no deficiency in accommodatioii;
and we supped and lodged well. As the horse and chair were
not expected back for a day or two, Major West, who was in no
hurry, undertook to wait for it, and bring it on to Philadelphia;
while the rest of us, who had objects, more or less attracting in
view, pursued our way the next morning. No other incident on
the road occurred, interesting enough to have left any trace in my
memory, except the meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Coxe, at Nesha-
miny Ferry. Matters had been arranged for this interview widi
my mother on her way to New York ; and they now met her in
consequence of a notice from her, that she would be there at an
appointed time. Theiir object was, to learn what she might know
of their son, as well as son-in-law, Mr. Andrew Allen. They
were deeply affected at the dispersed situation of their &mUy, and
feelingly alive to the unhappy effects of civil dissension. The
old gentleman, I recollect, blamed the step which had been taken
by Mr. Allen, and his son ; alleging, that they had been precipi-
early attracted the attention of Washimoton, ** who^ at the battle of Gennantown,
telected him, with bis companj, to attend as his body guard.** In coneeqaenoe
of hie cool and determined bravery in eeveral eiploite, which, for want of room,
cannot be narrated here, he waa promoted by Congrea* to the rank of Major,
with the command of a separate corps of cavalry, consisting of three oompuiiee.
In 1780 he was sent with his legion to the army of the South, under CSen. GuoDoe,
having been previously raised to the rank of LieutenantX>»lone]. He aerved
with great distinction throughout the war« and has left a well written, manly and
authentic ** History of the War in the Southern Department of the United States.**
In 1786 he was elected to Congress from Virginia, his native State. He was a
member of the Convention of Virginia that ratified the prssent Federal Conafti*
tution, of which he was a atrenoous advocate. He was three years Governor of
the State. In 1799 he was again chosen a member of Congress, and was seleclsd,
while there, to pronounce a funeral eulogium upon Washihoton. He prepared
the celebrated resolutions, moved by the late Cbibt Justice Marshaul in the
House of Representatives, from which General Lxb was accidentally absent aft
the time, expressive of the grief of Congress upon receiving intelligenoe of the
decease ofWAsniNOTON, the last of which resolutions was as follows: —
** Resolved, tliat a Committee, in conjnnction with one from the Senate, bs
appointed to consider on the most suiteble manner of paying honour to lbs
memory of the MAN, first in war, first in peace, and first in the bearte of his
fellow, sitixens.**
Before the accession of Mr. Jeftckson, General Ln, like many of the other
Fathers of the Revolution, retired to private life. He died on the S5th of Bfareh,
1818, in his 63d year.^]^.
AUTHOR ARRIVES AT PHILADELPHIA. 281
tated into it by Christian Huck, who had assured them, that mea-
sures were in agitation for their immediate arrest and confine-
ment.
We reached Philadelphia in the evening, where, it will be
enough for me to say, that my fondest anticipations were realized
in a meeting with the object, which had caused the deepest sighs
of my captivity. Were I dealing in fiction, or speaking of
another, a more particular representation might be required, of so
auspicious a winding up, of a more than twelve months' absence,
incessantly galled by sickly hope and feverish uncertainty. But,
in situations of tender interest, the fastidious delicacy, or, as the
French might call it, the mauvcdse hoTite of English manners, for-
bids a man to place himself. It is observable, that this highest
seasoning of French memoir writing, is wholly omitted by Mr.
Cumberland, who must have known the nation's taste. He gives
us to understand, indeed, that he was married ; and more than
once, marshals his children before us ; but he never ventures to
disclose a single circumstance of his love, or to descant upon
what ought to be considered, as the sine qm rum of his two con-
ditions of a husband and a father. Mr. Gibbon, it is true, touches
upon his attachment to Mademoiselle Curchod, afterwards Madame
Necker; but, evidently with a mortal fear of being laughed at^
for only glancing at his "early love." Perhaps nothing is more
characteristic of the manners of the two nations, than this very
circumstance, which serves also among others, to justify Sterne,,
in his singular declaration, that the French are too seriou$.* Aix
• The Edinburgh Review, in descanting on the correipondence of Baron
Grimm, obeerres, that it chfoniolee the death* of half the Aathor*iB aeqjaaintance»
•nd makes jests upon them all ; and is much more serious in discussing the
merits of an opera-singer, than in considering the evidence for the being of a
God, or the first foundations of moralitj. Grimm, though a German, was tho-
loagbly Frenchified by his long residence in France. He was among Rousseau's
most early acquaintances on his first going to Paris, and with some others, was
once engaged with him to traverse all Italy on foot *, but the project, of which the
parties were at first highly enamoured, came to nothing. The pedestrian exploit
lost its charms, as the time for undertaking it approached.
The review of the •* Correepondence, LUUraire, Philoeophique ei Critiqtu, Par
ie Baron de Chrimm, et par Dideroi,'' is by Lord Jeffrey, and is included in
the Philadelphia edition of Jeffrey's *' CotUrUnUiaM to the Edinburgh Remevs.^
Ed.
24*
282 AUTHOR ABiOYES AT PHILADELPHIA.
amour in their hands, he it their own or another's, is always an
extremely grave afiair ; and thence derives aa interest, which an
English writer in his own case,, would be sure to spoil, by a
levity assumed from the apprehension of ridicule. But, to what-
ever cause this diversity of sentiment may be awing, it shows the
superior decorum of English literature, as formed in the school
of Addison, Steel, Johnson, Su;. to that of the French, under the
guidance of Voltaire, Rousseau, Raynal, &e. ; the one, by its
circumspection, cherishing religion, morals, and government;^
other, by its licentiousness, undermining them all.
Having now brought myself back to Philadelphia, from whence
I marched the preceding summer, it naturally puts an end to the
narrative of my campaign, and captivity ; as, though yet a prisoner,
I was at home. What I have farther to say, therefore, will have
less the air of adventure ; and I shall, consequently, be relieved,
I hope, from so minute an attention to my own concerns.
One of the first things which struck us, on getting within our
own territory, was the high price of wine and other liquors. We
attributed this to their growing scarcity, though equally owing,
probably, to the incipient depreciation of the paper currency, of
which we had then no idea. We saw, to our great surprise, no
military parade upon our journey, nor any indication of martial
vigour on the part of the country. (Jeneral Washington, with
the little remnant of bis army at Morristo^vn, seemed left to scuffle
for liberty, like ajiother Cato at Utica.* Here and there, we saw
a militia man with his contrasted coloured cape and facings ; and
we found besides, that Captains, Majors and Colonels had
* The wiidoin of Wa8hinoton'» proceedings was acknowledged and apfir^
tiated by those especially who were mCKely spectators of the great drama io
which he was performing the most conspicuous part. Walpolb, a cool and sagi^
cious observer, writing to HoaAcc MaiIvn, in December, 1776, says, ^^WAsaraoTOX
has retired with his whde army to other heights about 6ve miles o^ $temnmg Is
intend to protract the ioar,.at true ahoayt- thought would be th^ir wisest tssy.**
Again March 5th, 1777, he writes : **The campaign in America has lost a great
deal of its florid complexion, and General Wasbinoton is allowed by both sides
not to be the worst General in the field.** And again he writes, April 3, 1777:
** Washington, thi DioTAToa, has shown himself both a Fabios and a Camilliis.
His march through our lines is allowed to have been a prodigy of fsneralabip.**
Walpols here alludes to the passage of the Delaware, and the sarpnn and
capture of the HeBaiaiv at Tcentoiur^D..
PROCEEDS TO READING. 283
become " good cheap " in the land. But, unfortunately, these
war-functionaries were not found at the head of their men : They,
more generally, figured as bar-keepers, condescendingly serving
out small measures of liquor, to their less dignified customers.
Still were they brimfull of patriotism, the prevailing feature -of
which was, to be no less ardent in their pursuit, than fervent in
their hatred of Tories.*
During a stay of a few days in Philadelphia, my mother and
myself, I recollect, dined at President Hancock's. He had been
one of the opposers of her scheme of going into New York, but
was sufficiently a man of the world, to put on an appearance of
being pleased with its success. Yet, as he was among the most
conspicuous on the American side, and deeply staked in the issue
of the contest, it is not uncharitable to suppose, that he was not
very cordially gratified by an event which might give to the
adverse cause any colour of clemency. But I have no right to
attribute his advice upon the occasion, to other than the most
friendly motives ; since mine, had I been consulted, would have
been the same.
My mother, as already mentioned, having removed her resi-
dence to Reading, thither, in company with the lady so often
adverted to, whose family was also established there, we pro-
ceeded in high spirits. Many other Philadelphians had recourse
to this town, as a place of safety from a sudden incursion of the
enemy ; and, among a score or more of fugitive families, were
those of Greneral Miffiin and my uncle, as I have called Mr. Bid-
die, though only standing in that relation by marriage. It was
also the station assigned to a number of prisoners, both British
and German, as well as of the principal Scotch royalists, that had
been subdued and taken in North Carolina. I soon discovered
that a material change had taken place during my absence firom
Pennsylvania; and that the pulses of many, that at the time of
my leaving it, had beaten high in the cause of Whigism and
Liberty, were considerably lowered. Power, to use a language
which bad already ceased to be orthodox, and could, therefore,
* Tbe generous exerttoos of the Philadelphia troop of cavalry, and other por-
tioM of tbe miliiiav in the preceding winter, are honourable exceptions to the
general sopinenaas..
284 POLITICAL FEELINGS.
only be whispered, had fallen into low hands: The better sort
were disgusted and weary of the war. Congress, indeed, had
given out that they had counted the cost of the contest ; but it
was but too apparent, that very many of their adherents, had
made false calculations on the subject, having neither allowed
enough for disasters in the field, nor domestic chagrins, the in-
evitable consequence of a dissolution of old power and the as-
sumption of new.* It was, in fact, just beginning to be per-
ceived, that the ardour of the inflamed multitude is not to be
tempered ; and that the instigators of revolutions are rarely those
who are destined to conclude them, or profit by them. The great
cause of schism among the Whigs, had been the Declaration of
Independence. Its adoption had, of course, rendered numbers
malcontent; and thence, by a very natural transition, consigned
them to the Tory ranks. Unfortunately for me, this was the pre-
dicament in which I found my nearest and best fiiend, whose ex-
ample had, no doubt, contributed to the formation of my political
opinions, and whose advice, concurring with my own sense of
duty, had placed me in the army. I now discovered, that we no
longer thought or felt alike ; and though no rupture took place,
some coldness ensued, and I have to regret a few words of
asperity which passed between us, on occasion of the French
alliance. But this was but a momentary blast; as neither of us
was infected with that hateful bigotry, which too generally actuated
Whigs and Tories, and led to mutual persecution, as one or othei
had the ascendency. As to the Whigs, the very cause for which
they contended was essentially that of freedom, and yet all the
freedom it granted, was, at the peril of tar and feathers, to think
and act like themselves, the extent, indeed, of all toleration pro-
ceeding from the multitude, whether advocating the divine ri^t
of a king ; the divine sovereignty of the people ; or of the idol
it may be pleased to constitute its unerring plenipotentiary.
Toleration is only to be looked for upon points in which men are
indifferent ; or where they are duly checked and restrained by a
salutary authority.
* For tome jaitificatioot of theie remarka, which, I know, hafo beeu thoni^hl
heterodox— aee WiuuiiaoN^a Mempira,. vol 1, pfi. 201-2— particalarly a cited
letter from General Sannrum to General Hbatb, dated Saratoga, Jolj 38th, 1771
POLITICAL FEELINGS. 285
Mr. Edward Biddle, then in a declining state of health, and no
longer in Congress, apparently entertained sentiments not accord-
ant with ^e measures pursuing ; and in the fervid style of elocu-
tion, for which he was distinguished, he oflen exclaimed, that he
really knew not what to wish for, "The subjugation of my
country," he would say, " I deprecate as a most grievous calamity,
and yet sicken at the idea of thirteen, unconnected, petty demo-
cracies : if we are to be independent, let us, in the name of God,
at once have an empire, and place Washington at the head of
it."* Fortunately for our existence as a nation, a great proportion
of those, whose early exertions tended to that issue, were not
aware of the price by which it was to be acquired ; otherwise, my
knowledge of the general feeling at this time, so far as my means
of information extended, obliges me to say, that it would not have
been achieved. Not that disgust and despondence were universal
among ^e leading and best informed Whigs, but an equal propor-
tion of disaffection to independence, in the early part of the year
1776, must have defeated the enterprize. Still, it may be ob-
served, that as Whigism declined among the higher classes, it in-
creased in the inferior ; because they who composed them, thereby,
obtained power and consequence. Uniforms and epaulets, with
militia titles and paper money, making numbers of persons gen-
tlemen who had never been so before, kept up every where
throughout the country, the spirit of opposition ; and if these were
not real patriotism, they were very good substitutes for it. Could
there, in fact, be any comparison between the condition of a daily
drudge in agricultural or mechanic labour, and that of a spruce,
militia-man, living without work, and, at the same time, having
plenty of continental dollars in his pocket ! How could he be
otherwise than well affected to such a cause !
Shortly after the Declaration of Independence by Congress, a
Constitution had been formed for the Commonwealth of Pennsyl-
vania. This was understood to have been principally the work
* I have prettiioed to pot in the wrongs, those who were adyerae to the Decla-
ration of Independence ; and the high ground on which we have since stood, fully
jaetified me : but present appearances seem again to unsettle the question, in the
minds of those at least who are heterodox enough to doubt the eligibility of a
dependence on France.
286 DR. FBANKLIK.
of Mr. George Bryan, in conjunction with a Mr. Canon, a school-
master ; and it was severely reprobated by those, who thought
checks and balances necessary to a legitimate distribution of the
powers of government. Doctor Franklin was also implicated in
the production ; and either his participation in it, or approbation
of it, was roundly asserted by its fautors. The Doctor, perhaps a
sceptic in relation to forms of goverment, and ever cautious of
committing himself, had thrown out an equivoque about a wagon,
with horses, drawing in opposite directions ; as, upon the adoption
of the federal constitution he told a pleafsant story of a self-com-
placent French lady who always found herself in the right. But
whether he meant by his rustic allusion, to show his approbation
of checks or otherwise, is an enigma that has never been solved;
nor is it worth the trouble of solution. The constitutionalists,
however, claimed him ; and whether he thought with them or not,
he was too prudent to disoblige them. It is rather probable the phi-
losopher was of opinion, that the ferment of the revolution should
be left to work itself off; that the effect could not be produced
by the exhibition of paper sedatives ; and that, therefore, the fonn
of a constitution was scarcely worth quarrelling about. His ob-
servations embraced moral, no less than natural subjects : and as
he had discovered that oil would smooth the rufBed surface of the
sea, so had he found it most effectual in assuaging the troubled
minds of his fellow men. Hence, his demeanour to both parties
was so truly oily and accommodating, that it always remained
doubtful to which he really belonged ; and while president of the
Executive Council, to which office he had been elected on his re-
turn from France, he sedulously avoided voting on questions,
which partook of the spirit of party. No man had scanned the
world more critically than the Doctor ; few have profited more by
a knowledge of it, or managed it more to their own advantage.
Old, and without an object to intrigue for, he seemed wholly de-
voted to his ease and amusement ; and I have been told by a
gentleman who acted with him as Vice-Ptesident, that he not only
devolved upon him the whole business of the department, bat
even declined the trouble of thmking. As to the Constitution,
whose provisions it was sometimes necessary to consider, it did
not appear to him, that he had ever read it; or if he had, that he
DR. F&ANKLIN — UR. BRYAN. 287
deemed it worthy of remembering. In short, as to the political
concerns of the State, he was apathy itself; and like King Lear it
was obviously his '^fast intent, to diake all cares and business
firom his age."*
With respect to Mr. Bryan, so conspicuous at this era in the
home department, he was one of those, whose memory treasures
up small things, with even more care than great ones. He was
said to be a very diligent reader, and was certainly a never weary
monotonous talker, who, in the discourses he held, seldom failed
to give evidence of an acquaintance with the most minute, recon-
dite, and out of the way facts ; insomuch, that a bet was once
ofiered, that he could name the town-cryer of Bergen-op-Zoom.t
As Ireland had given him birth, he was probably like the bulk of his
emigrating countrymen, in the antipodes at all points, to whatever
was English ; and a staunch patriot, of course. It was, moreover,
his passion or his policy, to identify himself with the people^ in
opposition to those, who were termed the well hom^ a designation
conceived in the genuine spirit of democracy, and which, as it
* Dr. Feankun wai chosen President of the Convention to form a Constitation
for the State of Pennsylvania, and while a member of this Convention, he was,
also, a member of Cong'ress where important duties required his occasional attend-
ance. ** He is reported,** says Sparks, "* to have been the author of the most re-
markable feature in this Constitution, that is, a single Legislative Assembly,
instead of two branches, which other Statesmen have considered preferable, and
which have since been adopted by all the States of the Union, as well as in other
countries where the experiment of popular forms has been tried. He disapproved
of the distinctions of rank incident to two Assemblies, one being called the Vpptr
and the other the Lowtr House, as having an aristocratical tendency, unfavoura-
ble to the liberty and equality, which are the essence of republican institutions.'*
These distinctions, borrowed, as are too many other opinions and practices, from
Ehigland, however significant and expressive there, are utterly meaningless Afre,
yet are obstinately persevered in. It is time that this absurd imitation of Lords
and Commons should be discontinued, and the common^enss of the country is
si^iealed to in this behalf. At the period of the adoption of tliis Constitution,
Franklin was in his 71st year ; but he was, nevertheless, according to Sparks,
actively attentive to his two-fold duties, the assertion of our author's informant, to
the contrary notwithstanding. — Eo.
t This place was probably suggested to the mind of the bettor firom the circnm-
■tance of its having been tdien in the year 1747, by Marshal Count Lowknoabl
though deemed impregnable, and being, on that account, a common theme in
oonversatioo and newspapers.
288 HE. BRYAK — MR. CANON. ^
may be supposed, did " yeoman^s service " to her cause, now
dispensing with its use from a just deference to its well bom ad-
vocates from Virginia and her dependencies. In other respects
Mr. Bryan was well enough: let us say, a well meaning man, and
even one, who, in the main, felt he was acting the patriot : for
this part, it is well known, is played in very different styles.
Should any reader require a proof of this, I might refer him to the
modes of Washington and Jefferson. Some only see danger,
bless their optics! on the side of aristocracy ; and, therefore, rivet
themselves with all their might, in an anti-patrician spirit of per-
verseness to every thing candid, or noble, or honourable. Nothing
is republican with them, but as it is crawling, and mean, and can-
died over with a fulsome and hypocritical love for the people. I
do not say that Mr. Bryan was actuated by such motives, but
merely, that his patriotism was of the humble character they are
calculated to inspire. Of his coUeague Mr. Canon, it may not be
uncharitable to presume, that having the little knowledge of man,
and scholastic predilection for the antique in liberty, which gene-
rally falls to the lot of a pedagogue, he acted accordingly.* But
death quickly snatched him away; ostendent terris hunc ionium
fata. These constituted the duumvirate, which had the credit of
framing the Constitution and thence laying, in Pennsylvania, the
comer stone of that edifice, which, however retarded in its pro-
gress by aristocratical interferences, towers, like another Babel, to
ike skies, and will continue to tower, until finally arrested and
dilapidated by an irremediable confusion of tongues: for anarchy
ever closes the career of democracy.
* As to mypeir, who always find it imponible to Beparate from my idea of a
good goTernment, somewhat of ignoble fireside comfort and tranquillity, I most
say, that I ha^ but a poor opinion of old Roman folidty, notwithstanding the im-
mense amor patrim that attended it
PHILADELPHIA THBEATEMES. 289
CHAPTER XII.
Philadelphia Threatened. — Washington Marches to meet the Enemy. — ^Review
of the Army. — Action at Brondywine. — Reflections on National Strength. —
Measures of Washington. — Character of his Operations. — Defeat of Bargoyne. —
Society at Reading. — Generals Mifflin, Gates, Conway, Lee. — Captain Speke. —
Prisoners.— British Officers on Parole.— Author Exchanged. — Married.— Re*
flections.— Occurrence of the War^— Charles Thomson.
General Howe had remained inactive during the summer,
and it was not until the latter part of August, that it became
manifest that Philadelphia was his object. This rendered it ex-
pedient in the opinion of the active Whigs of that city, to put out
of the way of mischief, the most influential and zealous of the
disaffected ; several of whom were accordingly, on authority of
Congress, apprehended, and deported to the western parts of
Virginia. On their way thither, they passed through Reading;
and it being proposed by some of their old fellow citizens there
resident, to show them some attention in their misfortune, the pro-
position was generally approved, and I was among the number
of those who called on them, at the inn at which they stopped.
Here, we found some of the principal and most respectable
Quakers, Mr. James Pemberton, Mr. Myers Fisher, and several
others, whom I do not, with certainty, recollect. Mr. Fisher
was the only one of this society, with whom I was personally
acquainted ; and he, I remember, took occasion significantly to
observe, that " I did not look as if I had been starved by those
sad people the British." But I found among them another ac-
quaintance of a wholly diflerent order. This was no other than
my old friend Pike, the fencing master, who, although he had
dissembled so well at the outset of the business, as to render it
dubious whether he was for or against us, had, in the sequel it
25
290 WASHINGTON MARCHES TO MEET THE ENEMY.
seems, eyinced himself a true-hearted Britoo, to which circum-
stance, he owed the honour of his being in his present very good
company^ as he termed it. The red coat and laced hat of Pike,
were, to be sure, very strikingly in contrast with the flat brims
and plain drab-coloured garments of the rest of the assemblage:
nevertheless, from an internal similarity, this seemingly discord-
ant ingredient incorporated perfectly well with the mass; and
friend Pike, as he was called, officiating in the capacity of a
major domo or caterer at the inns they put up at, was a person,
I found, of no small consideration with his party. The prisoners
were not much dejected, probably looking upon themselves as
martyrs to the cause of their country ; and, in fact, though ap-
parently well pleased with the civility we showed them, their
manner rather indicated, that they considered us, as more ob-
jects of pity than themselves. How much is it to be lamented,
that the public good should not always be so manifest as not to
be mistakep ! If this were the case, how many of the fantastic
tiicks we play of!' against each other, in its name, might be
spared ! But then, we should no longer be the self-important,
*^ forked-animals," ^'the quintescence of dust," called man.
Having drawn together his forces. General Washington
marched to meet the enemy, who, from the head of Elk, was
directing his course to Philadelphia. As it had been given out
by the disaflected, that we were much weaker than in truth we
Were, the General thought it best to show both Whigs and Tories
the real strength he possessed ; and in this view, took his route
through the city, the hellorum maxima merceSj or at least, the
great object of the campaign, and the point, which if gained,
Ivould, in the opinion of Mr. Galloway, be decisive of the con-
test. I happened to be there at the time, and from the coffee-
house corner, saw our army with the Commander<in-chief at its
head, pass down Front street. The sight was highly interesting to
persons of all descriptions ; and among the many who, perhaps,
equally disclaimed the epithet of Whig or of Tory, Mr. Chew,
from an upper window in the house of Mr. Turner, appeared a
very anxious spectator. By the bye, it might savour of bigotiy,
to impute guilt to this want of decision. In civil commotions,
there is generally so much to disapprove on both sides, and the
REVIEW OF THE ARMY. 291
issue is so little answerable to the designs of the well-meaning
men embarked in them, that neutrality, if it could be maintained,
might often be the most eligible part. Atticus was perhaps as
good, and probably a wiser man than either Cicero, or Pompey,
or Cssar. There are certainly times in which inaction becomes
virtue, notwithstanding that active ardour may be more conge-
nial to upright intention ; and that it is in the glowing tempera-
ment of a Cato, disdaining that '^ his house should stand secure
and flourish in a civil war,'' that the noblest feelings of an honest
heart are to be looked for. And yet, this very Cato, under the
guidance of the same poet, who puts this heroic sentiment into
his mouth, is made to counsel his son to ^Mive retired, and to
content himself with being obscurely good."
The impression made by this review of the American army, it
is to be presumed, was rather favourable than otherwise from the
propensity of persons unaccustomed to the sight of large bodies
of men, to augment them. But it was very disproportioned to
the zeal for liberty, which had been manifested the year before.
It amounted to but about eight or nine thousand men, according
to Chief Justice Marshall ; but these, though indifferently dressed,
held well burnished arms, and carried them like soldiers, and
looked, in short, as if they might have faced an equal number
with a reasonable prospect of success.
The action which ensued at Brandywine, on the eleventh of
September, is an instance, among many others furnished by his-
tory, both of the temptation to dispute the passage of a river by
fronting the enemy on the opposite side, and of the inefficiency of
such attempts. The difficulty and ineligibility of these under-
takings, are noticed by most of the writers on the art of war, and
particularly by the Marquis De Feuquiere.* To a person of any
* He says : ** It is impossible to guard the shores of a river when the groand
to be guarded is of a great extent, because the assailant, pointing his efforts to
•eTeral places, for the purpose of separating the forces of his adversary, and to
draw his attention to spots very distant from each other, at length determining
to make his effort at the point where he finds the least ability to resist, always
prevails over the labours and vigilance of his enemy ; more especially when he
employs the night for the execution of his enterprise, that being most favourable
for concealing the place of his principal effort*'
292 BRANDYWINE.
military experience, who reflects how easy it must be, to distract
the opposing army by fallacious demonstrations, in a situation at
once concealed from observation, and exempted from the peril
which results from movements in the face of an adversary, in a
state of profit by them, the little chance of succeeding in the
effort, on a merely defensive plan, must be apparent. Where,
indeed, the defending General shall permit himself to become the
assailant, if occasion should ofler, he, in some degree, balances
advantages; and the conception of General Washington, as
mentioned by Judge Marshall, of crossing at the lower ford to
attack the enemy's right under Knyphausen, was masterly ; and
might, if rapidly put in execution, have handsomely turned the
tables. It can hardly be doubted, however, that a position on
the enemy's flank to the westward, would have been more eligible
than that taken in front; and that the means of annoying and
possibly cripplmg him on his march, which was all that could
reasonably be looked for from an army so inferior as ours, mi^t
have ofiered at this river or at Schuylkill. This was probably, at
one time contemplated, under the recommendation, as it was said,
of General Greene. But the public clamour demanded that a
batde should be risked for the city ; and I well remember, that it
was given out at Reading, on the suggestion of Greneral Mif9in,
that Greene, of whom he was no friend, was jealous of Southern
influence, and, therefore, indiflerent to the fate of Philadelphia.
But if Greene really advised the measure attributed to him, thereby
securing the open country to our army in case of disaster, in pre-
ference to the plan adopted, and which, in addition to its other
fauhs, tended to place us in the nook formed by the course of the
Delaware, I cannot but say, that, whatever were his motives, and
we have no ground to presume them bad, he was right. Yet, if
Congress required that the enemy should be fought, and we have
good authority that they did require it, the opportunity of bringing
him to action, in any other mode than that of placbg ourselves
directly in his way, might have been lost.*
* *'The expediency of fightingr this battle,** says Sparks, in his Life of Wash-
ington, ** with a force so much inferior, and under many disadvantages, has been
questioned by foreign writers. If the subject be viewed in a military light only,
there may, perhaps, be just grounds for criticism. But it ehoold be difTerently
BEFLECTIONS ON NATIONAL STRENGTH. 293
But why so much caution, it may be asked, against a foe in
the very heart of the country? Why not rather turn out en masse^
surround, and make a breakfast of Mr. Howe and his mercena-
ries ? Could not a population of two millions of souls, have fur-
nished fighting Whigs enough for the purpose ? Where were
the multitudes which used to appear in arms, in the commons
of Philadelphia? Where the legions of New-England men that
hemmed in Gage at Boston ? Where, in short, the hundred and
fifty thousand men in arms throughout the continent, spoken of
by General Lee* and others, at the beginning of the contest?
Where were the Pennsylvania riflemen, those formidable, un*
erring marksmen, each of whom, could venture to put a ball in
a target, held by his brother ? How came it, that that excellent
jest of a British dragoon pursuing one of them round a tree, was
not exemplified on this occasion ? These things promised well ;
they were flattering in the extreme, and admirably calculated to
buoy us up in a confidence of the martial superiority of freemen
to slaves. Yet, on the day of trial, from whatever cause it pro-
ceeded, the fate of the country and its liberties, was always
committed to a handful of mercenaries, the very things, which
were the eternal theme of our scorn and derision. The fact
must either be, that the effective strength of a nation does, after
all, reside in regular, disciplined forces, or that appearances
were lamentably deceitful ; that all the patriotic ardour we had
at first displayed, had already evaporated ; and that the gallant
affair of Bunker's hill, and others, were but the eflfects of mo-
regarded. General Washington knew the expectation of the country and of
Congfress ; and he was persuaded, that a defeat would be less injurious, in its
effects on the public mind, than the permittingr of the enemj to march to Phila?
delphia without opposition. He doubtless hoped to make a better resistance ;
which he would have done, if he had not been deceived by contradictory intelli.
gence in the time of battle, against which no foresight could guard. Although
some of his troops behaved ill, yet others, and the larger part, fought with signal
bravery, and inspired him and themselves with a confidence, which could have
been produced only by the trial." See Appendix K. — Ed.
* Not less than a hundred and fifty thousand gentlemen, yeomen and farmers
are in arms, determined to preserve their liberties or perish. — Letter from Gene»
fol Lu to General Burgwrie,
•25
294 BEFLECTIONS ON NATIONAL STRENGTH.
mentary excitement. America does not seem to be a soil for
enthusiasm ; and I am not at all disposed to dispute the assertion
contained in a letter of General Du Portail, in the time of the
war, that there was more of it in a single coffee-house in Paris,
than on our whole continent put together. From these facts,
and facts they assuredly are, let our theoretical men calculate
the probable result of a formidable invasion of our country in our
present state of preparation ; and, if in the heroic epoch alluded
to, when there had been really a promise of great things, so little
was done, how much less, is rationally to be expected from the
empty vapouring of demagogue valour. Would it have been
credited in the year 1775, that a British array of eighteen thou-
sand men could have marched in perfect security from the
Chesapeake to Philadelphis^? that a much smaller force could
have penetrated through the Jerseys to the Delaware ? and that
mere partizan-bodies, could have traversed the southern states
in utter contempt of the long knife of Virginia ! All these things
were done; and yet our babbling statesmen will talk, *'Ye
Gods! how they will talk," of the irresistable prowess of a
nation of freemen ! From the perseverance of Spain, when com-
pared with the short-lived exertions of Austria and Prussia,
some argue the superiority of a determined people to regular
armies. But it is not certainly like Spain, that we would wish
to have our country defended to be first over-run and destroyed !
Neither can the glory we aspire to, be merely that of the boxer,
who bears a great deal of beating, and solely depends on out-
winding his adversary. I have lately seen sneers at what are
called technical armies ; but what are we to call those with which
Napoleon has achieved his victories and attained his present
fearful ascendancy! We can hardly say, they are not techmcal,
because, in part, composed of conscripts ; and, if by the term,
is meant disciplined^ who will deny them that qualification ?
Previously to Sir William Howe's getting possession of Phila-
delphia, measures were taken by General Washington to give
him battle a second time. The two armies were on the point of
engaging, and the encounter was only prevented by a heavy fall
of rain. The weather continued wet for a day or two ; and by
MEASURES OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 295
damaging our ammunition , rendered it inexpedient to seek the
enemy.* While our army had been preparing for action, I have
been informed by several discerning oflScers, that the General
discovered unusual impetuosity ; and that as he rode along the
line exhorting his men to do their duty, his manner evinced an
extreme impatience of ill-fortune, and a determination to retrieve
it, or perish in the attempt.
Although defeat had been the consequence of his unequal
conflicts with the foe, and his country seemed lost to the gene-
rous ardour which had once inspired it, his manly mind was not
subdued. Of this he gave an illustrious instance in his assault
of the post at Germantown. That the British army was not de-
stroyed on this occasion, and Philadelphia recovered, has been
represented by certain malcontents, as a shameful dereliction of
a victory already gained ; and General C. Lee, sneeringly de-
nominates it a stroke of the bathos. But what would he that we
should have done ? He would hardly have had us press on
hap-hazard, without redressing the disorder which had taken
place in our line ; a disorder which might have ensued, had
even General Lee himself commanded. Besides, the step would
* ** Afler allowing bis men one day for rest and refreshment, Washington re-
turned across the Schuylkill, and took the Lancaster road, leading to the left of
the British army, fully determined to offer battle. This bold step, taken before
the enemy had left the field of action at the Brandywine, was a proof that the
late repulse had in no degree unsettled his own resolution, or damped the ardour
of his troops. The two armies met twenty.three miles from Philadelphia, and an
engagement was actually begun between the advanced parties, when a heavy
rain came on and rendered both armies totally unfit to pursue the contest. Wash-
TxoTON retired to the Yellow Springs, but was not followed by the British ; and
he finally passed over the Schuylkill at Parker*s Ford."
VVashinoton gives the following account of his movements on this occasion:^-
"When I last re-crossed the Schuylkill, it was with a firm intent of giving the
enemy battle wherever I should meet them; and accordingly I advanced as far
as the Warren Tavern upon the Lancaster road, near which place the two armies
were upon the point of coming to a general engagement, bat were prevented by
a roost violent flood of rain, which continued all the day and following night.
When it held up, we had the mortification to find our ammunition, which had
been completed to forty rounds a man, was entirely ruined ; and in that situation
we had nothing lefl for it, but to find out a strong piece of ground, which we
eould easily maintain, tiU we could get the arms put in order, and a recruit of am«
munition.** — iSJparArt' Life of Washington,— Ed,
296 CHARACTER OF HIS OPERATIONS.
have been by no means congenial with his own condact at
Monmouth ; which was sufficiently circumspect and respectful
of an enemy, he here seems to consider as nothing.* But the
reputation of a commander ought not to depend upon a sarcasm ;
and in order to have shown, wherein General Washington's
conduct had been defective, Mr. Lee should have fairly set be-
fore us, what Duke Ferdinand, whom he is pleased to bring into
contrast, would have done. Possibly, the Duke might have
duly respected the British grenadiers, and made comparisons not
altogether animating, between the respective numbers, equip-
ments and discipline, of his own army, and that of his adversary.
But this, as a prudent General, he would, doubtless, have kept
to himself; since to proclaim the bravery of an enemy, to our
own men, on the field of action, is at best, but a doubtful mode
of encouraging them. It would, however, be no just disparage-
ment of General Washington, to admit his inferiority to Prince
Ferdinand, in matters wherein the desultory Indian warfare, had
furnished no experience. We had no right to count upon him
as consummate in the science of tactics ; or to hold him fully
competent to the nice arrangements required in the movements
of an army, should it even be disciplined. Indeed, it was ob-
servable, and confirmed by every instance which eame under
my notice, that little benefit, with respect to the discipline of
parade, so essential to the effect of operations on the large scale»
was derived from any of the gentlemen who had been in the
provincial service. The fortitude which i» acquired from a
familiarity with the perils and privations of war, was conspicuous
in many; but being too far advanced in life,, readily to acquire
new habits, they were far from excelling in the business of
manoeuvring, or in an aptitude of imparting to their men the air
* A partial advantage over the enemj, was, probably, all that nvaa conteoK-
plated on this occasion, and it was ceruinly as much as we had a right to caleo-
late upon with our very inferior army. This may account for the dday at Chew^s
house, which has been so much censured by those, who have rashly asserted that
a complete victory was in our power.
I presume this is the first defence that has been made of the failure at Ger*
mantown, and I must confess my satisfaction to find that it agrees with General
WiuaNB0N*8 and General Hckrt Lo'b opinions of that affair..
DEFEAT OF GENERAL BURGOYNE. 297
and adroitness of regular soldiers. In the situation of our armj,
necessarily deficient in discipline, something of that attention to
minutiae ; that acquaintance with the duties of the adjutant and
drill sergeant with the occasional exercise of them, which have
been ascribed to the King of Prussia ; that searching eye, which
runs along the line, detecting at a glance, the remissness of every
lounger, might have been desirable in its commander, possessing,
in other respects, exterior qualifications for the station, in a de-
gree not to be surpassed : a manner which at once inspired con-
fidence and attachment ; a figure pre-eminently gentlemanly,
dignified, commanding, equally removed from heaviness and flip-
pancy, and blending the gravity of the sage, with the animation
of the soldier. Had it belonged to Alexander, Hephaestion would
have lost his compliment, as it must infallibly have prevented
the mistake of the mother of Darius.
The success of General Howe ; the loss of Philadelphia ; as
well as the ground given in the northern quarter by the retreat of
General St. Clair ; were amply counterbalanced by the utter ex-
tinction of Burgoyne's army on the fifteenth of October.* As
Reading lay in the route from Saratoga to York where Congress
was now assembled, we received before that body, the particu-
lars of this glorious event, from Major Wilkinson,! who was
* Oil the return of General BaRGorinE to Engrland, on his parole, the King re-
fbaed to see him, and he in vain solicited a Conrt-martial. Under these circum-
stances, he threw himself upon Parliament, and a motion was made in the House
of Commons, for an inquiry into the Convention at Saratoga; which was got rid
of by the previous question." Note by the Editor of WalpoU*a Letters. — Ed.
t Afterwards General James Wilkinson. He was more distinguished for his
ponderous ** Memoirs " of doubtful authority, than for any very effective service
in war at any period of his career, although, like another celebrated chiefUin, he
was a " hero cf two wars^ the Revolutionary and MadUonian^ that is to say, he
belonged to the army at both periods. He was no doubt a brave man. He was
sent by Gates to Congress to communicate intelligence of Bi7ROOYnk*s surrender.
He was also charged with being concerned in the famous Conway cabal. In
return for the magnanimity of our author in his reference to this gentleman, it is
but proper that the General*s very favourable, but no doubt very just, impressions
in regard to him should appear. In Vol. I. at p. 339, of the Memoirs of Wilkin-
son, we read as follows : " Besides Mr. Bidole, I had another acquaintance, a
contemporary whose independence of sentiment and manly deportment, had at-
tracted my attention and engaged my esteem during my residence in Philadel-
phia; but exclusive of his personal merits, a congeniality of feeling and parity of
298 AMERICAN GENERALS.
charged with the despatches of General Gates. But without
loading my Memoirs with obvious and trite reflections on this
memorable occurrence, I turn a moment to myself, to observe:
That were I a prey to the vulture of ill-starr'd ambition, the men-
tion of a gentleman, with whom I commenced in the same rank,
my military career, and who is now in the chief command of the
American forces, might suggest somewhat unpleasantly, the im-
measurable distance he has left me behind ; but the recollections
his name awakens with infinitely more interest, are of a nature
wholly diflerent. They relate to pursuits and occupations of a
character more congenial to that season of life, when, as a stu-
dent of physic, he attended medical lectures in Philadelphia, be-
fore either of us wore a uniform, and before a foundation was
laid for the many strifes which have since ensued. Thus much
without connecting him with any of them, I freely pay to the
remembrance of an early friendship, ever renewed when casual-
ties have brought us together, maugre the estranging influe^ice of
diflerent party-associations.
The ensuing winter, at Reading, was gay and agreeable, not-
withstanding that the enemy was in possession of the metropolis.
The society was sufficiently large and select; and a sense of com-
mon suflfcring in being driven from their homes, had the effect of
more closely uniting its members. Disasters of this kind, if duly
weighed, are not grievously to be deplored. The variety and
bustle they bring along with them, give a spring to the mind;
and when illumined by hope, as was now the case, they are,
when present, not painful, and when past, they are among the
incidents most pleasing in retrospection. Besides the families
established in this place, it was seldom without a number of vi-
siters, gentlemen of the army and others. Hence the dissipation
of cards, sleighing-parties, balls, &c., was freely indulged.
predicament, as it regarded a passion which above all others most inteiests the
youthful heart, had produced a confidential intimacy, the recollection of which
at this distant day, awakens the sweetest sensibilities of my bosom ; and I know
not whether I compliment the living or the dead, when I declare that I have
rarely met with a roan of more refined honour, a more feeling heart, or more
polished manners, than Alexander Gratdon, Esq." The Memoirs of Wilkinson
were printed iu 1816.— >£d.
GENERAL MIFFLIN. 299
General Mifflin^ at this era, was at home, a chief out of war,
complaining, though not ill, considerably malcontent, and appa-
rently, not in high favour at Head Quarters. According to him,
the ear of the Commander-in-chief, was exclusively possessed by
Greene, who was represented to be neither the most wise, the
most brave, nor most patriotic of counsellers.* In short, the
campaign in this quarter, was stigmatized as a series of blunders ;
and the incapacity of those who had conducted it, unsparingly
reprobated. The better fortune of the northern army, was
ascribed to the superior talents of its leader ; and it began to be
whispered, that Gates was the man who should, of right, have
the station so incompetently sustained by Washington. There
was, to all appearance, a cabal forming for his deposition, in
which, it is not improbable, that Gates, Mifflin and Conway were
already engaged; and, in which, the congenial spirit of Lee, on
his exchange, immediately took a share. The well known
apostrophe of Conway to America, importing **that Heaven had
passed a decree in her favour or her ruin, must long before have
ensued, from the imbecility of her military counsels," was, at
this time, familiar at Reading; and I heard him myself, when he
was afleiwards on a visit to that place, express himself to the
* A far abler, more sincere, and more ** earnest man,*' as Carltle would ex-
press it, than General Mifplin, namely, Oeneral Henrt Lee, entertained and ex-
pressed a very different opinion. ** No man,'* he sajr, ** was more familiarized to
dispassionate and minute research than General Greene. He was patient in hear-
ing every thing offered, never interrupting or slighting what was said; and, having
possessed himself of the subject fully, he would enter into a critical comparison
of the opposite arguments, convincing his hearers, as he proceeded, of the pro-
priety of the decision he was about to pronounce." ** His vivid plastic genius
operated on the latent elements of martial capacity in his army, invigorated its
weakness, turned its confusion into order, and its despondency into ardour.
A wide sphere of intellectual resource enabled him to inspire confidence, to re-
kindle courage, to decide hesitation, and infuse a spirit of exalted patriotism in
the citizens of the State. By his own example, he showed the incalculable value
of obedience, of patience, of vigilance and temperance. Dispensing justice, with
an even band, to the citizen and soldier ; benign in heart, and happy in manners;
he acquired the durable attachment and esteem of all. He collected around his
person, able and respectable officers ; and selected, for the several departments,
those who were best qualified to fill them. His operations were then commenced
with a buldness of design, well calculated to raise the drooping hopes of his coun-
try, and to excite the respect of the enemy."— Ed.
300 MIFFLIN — GATES — LEE — CONWAY.
effect : ^^ That no man was more a gentleman than GeneralWASH-
iNGTON, or appeaced to more advantage at his table, or in the usual
intercourse of life ; but as to his talents for the command of an
army, (with a French shrug) they were miserable indeed." Ob-
servations of this kind, continually repeated, could not fail to
make an impression within the sphere of their circulation ; and
it may be said, that the popularity of the Commander-in-chief,
was a good deal impaired at Reading. As to myself, however,
I can confidently aver, that I never was proselyted ; or gave into
the opinion for a moment, that any man in America, was worthy
to supplant the exalted character, that presided in her army. I
might have been disposed, perhaps, to believe, that such talents
as were possessed by Lee, could they be brought to act subordi-
nately, might often be useful to him; but I ever thought it would
be a fatal error, to put any other in his place. Nor was I the
only one, who forbore to become a partizan of Gates.* Several
others thought they saw symptoms of selfishness in the business;
nor could the great eclat of the northern campaign, convince them,
that its hero was superior to Washington. The duel which af-
terwards took place between Generals Conway f and Cadwalader,
* General Hoeatio Gates waa an Englithmao, and had served in Ameriea
daring the war of 1755. Little is known of his early career. He is said to have
been born in 1728, ** and rose to the rank of major by the force of merit alone.**
Horace Walpoue, in writing to HoaACB Mann, speaks of the god-son of the lat-
ter, Horatio Gates, and of his capture of Burootnb, at Saratoga.
He settled in Virginia, where, at the commencement of the war of the Revela-
tion, he received from Congress the appointment of Adjatant-General, with the
rank of Brigadier to the armjp assembled before Boston in the first campaign.
After the capture of Burgotne, when the popularity of Gates, in consequence of
this good fortune, was at its height, ** intrigues were commenced for elevating bim
to the station occupied by Washington, which were as shameful as they were un- '
successful" How far be was engaged in tliem it is not now possible to detennine. I
In June, 1780, Gates received the Chief command of the Southern army, and |
when about to leave Virginia for the south, "his old acqaaintance. General
Charles Lee, waited on him to take leave, and pressing his band, bade him bear
in mind, that the laurels of the North must not be exchanged for the willow of I
the South.** He was defeated by Cornwalus, at the battle of Camden, on the
16th of August He died on the 10th of April, 1806, in the 78th year of bis
age.**— En.
t General Thomas Conwat was bom in Ireland. He received a military edn*
cation in Frsnce, where, at the age siz years, he accompanied his parents. He
SOCIETY AT READING. 301
though immediately proceeding from an unfavourable opinion
expressed by the latter of the conduct of the former at German-
town, had perhaps a deeper origin, and some reference to this
intrigue :* as I had the means of knowings that General Cad-
walader, suspecting Mifi9in had instigated Conway to fight him,
was extremely earnest to obtain data from a gentleman who
lived in Reading, whereon to ground a serious explanation with
Mifflin. So much for the manoeuvring, which my location at one
of its principal seats, brought me acquainted with ; and which,
its authors were soon after desirous of burying in oblivion.
Among the persons, who, this winter, spent much time in
came to tbu coantry with strong recommendatioiMi and, in 1777, received from
Confess the appointment of Brigadier-General. He was, however, distinguished
only by his ridiculous hostility to Washington, and by his absurd endeavour
to place his friend General Gates, in the Chief command of the army. ^ In this
be was supported by several members of Congress. He was appointed by that
body Inspector.General of the Army^ with the rank of Major-General, but, was
soon obliged to resign his commission, on account of his unpopularity with the
officers. In consequence of his calumnies against Washington, he was chaU
lenged by General Cadwaladcr, and wounded in the head. Supposing that he
was mortally injured, he wrote a satisfactory letter of apology to WASRiNOTONt
for the injury he had endeavoured to inflict upon his character." He returned to
France at the close of the year 177d.
The absurd aspirations of the English General, Gates, the weak and mi*
serable intrigues of his countryman and partisan, Conwat, the vanity and in.
sobordination of their able but eccentric countryman, Greneral Charles LeB|
eaoaed far more annoyance to the Commander-in-chief^ than the inexperience
of all the other officers together, who, suddenly summoned to the field from the
ordinary avocations of life, were compelled to learn the art of war, amidst its
perils and responsibilities. — Ed.
* Not that General Caowalader was induced from the intrigue to speak un-
fkvourably of General Conwat*s behaviour at Germantown. That of itself, was li
sufficient ground of censure. Conway, it seems, duriug the action, was found in
a farm-house by Grenerals Reed and CadWalader. Upon their inquiring the
tause, he replied, in great agitation, that his horse was wounded in the neok*
Being urged to get another horse, and at any rate to join his brigade which was
engaged, he declined it, repeating that his horse was wounded in the neckt Upon
Gmway's applying to Congress, some time after to be made a Major-General, and
earnestly urging his suit^ Cadwalader made known this conduct of his at Gterman*
town ; and it was for so doing, that Conway gave the challenge, the issue of
which was, his being dangerously wounded in the face from the pistol of General
Cadwalader. He recovered, however, and some time time after went to France*
26
302 MR. DUEB — CAPTAIN SP£K£.
Reading, was one Luttiloe,* a foreigneri who was afterwards
arrested in London on suspicion of hostile designs ; also Mr.
William Duer, who either was, or lately had been, a member of
Congress. His character is well known. He was of the dash«
ing cast, a man of the world, confident and animated, with a
promptitude in displaying the wit and talents he possessed,
with very little regard to the decorum, which either time or
place imposed. Of this he gave an instance, one day, at Mr.
Edward Biddle's, which, had it been on a theatre, where the
royal cause was predominant, I should have relished : as it was,
it was unpleasant to me. Captain Spekef of the British army,
a prisoner, was present, with his eye on. a newspaper, several
of which had lately come out of Philadelphia, when Duer,
taking up another began to read aloud, commenting with much
sarcasm on the paragraphs as he went along. Speke bore it a
good while, but at length Duer's remarks became so pinching
that he was roused to reply. To this he received a ready re>
joinder, and a warm altercation was on the point of taking
place, when Captain Speke prudently took the resolution of re-
linquishing the field; and taking up his ha^ abruptly retired.
* Henry Luttdiloh, Esq., a German. He » so called in the a«»iint, onder the
bead of Britain, in Dobaon'a Encyclopedia, and waa oonceraed with De la Motte
who was ezeeated for treaaou, whom, on being arretted, he informed againit
HufRT EMAifnEL LuTTERLOH.— On the 14th of Aprils 1790, at the aeeood ibbboo
of the firat Congreaa, after the organization of the Government, a petition waa
presented by thia gentleman praying to be allowed the pay and emolnmenta of a
colonel, in oonaideration of military aenricea rendered to the United Statea daring
the war. Thia petition waa referred to the Secretary of War, who retorted on
the 30th May. His report waa referred to a committee, and their report waa
taken itp on the 3d of Angnat, and disagreed to, and the petitioner had leafe
granfed him to withdraw his petition. At the third aesaion of thia Congreaa, he
preaented another petition praying that his memorial might be reoonaidered—
and he waa agahi rejected^ At the first aesaion of the second Congreaa, be again
petitioned. A committee reported, bat there waa no action on the report; bat at
the next aesaion, the House rtasiecd'^bal the aceoant of ** Goknel Henry Ema-
noel Ltttterloh, for his travetting and paaaage ezpenaea incvrred in coming to
America, and joinmg the army of the United Statea, in 1777, being aeven hua*
^ed and forty ^ix dollars, be settled, and the amount thereof to be paid out of the
treaanry of the United Statea.** Hlatory of Congreaa daring firat term of Wmbt
imTONi^-EB.
f Captain Snu was taken priaoner at the battle of Germantown.
CAPTAIN SPEKE. 303
AsSpeke, although a thorough Englishman, was a well-bred man,
with whom I had become acquainted, and had exchanged some
civilities, I was not a little hurt at this circumstance, as the com*
pany in general seemed to be. Duer for his part triumphed in
his success, displaying a heart, which however bold on the safe
side of the lines, might nevertheless have been sufficiently meek
on the other ; at least, such a conduct would but conform to the
result of my observations on persons who play the bashaw in
prosperity; and I believe it is pretty generally agreed, to be no
mark of game to crow upon a dunghill. While upon the subject
of Captain Speke, I will finish the little I have to say of him.
He belonged, if my recollection does not fail me, to the same re-
giment Avith Mr. Becket ; at least, he was well acquainted with
him, and told me he had heard him speak of me. He was youdg
and lively, with an addiction to that sly significance of remark,
characteristic both of his profession and his nation ; and which
may be pardoned, when accompanied with good humour. Taking
up my hat, one day, when at his quarters, to take coffee with him
and one or two others of his fellow prisoners, he observed, that
it was a very decent one, which is more, said he, than I can say
of those generally worn by the officers of your army : they have
precisely what we call in England, the damn my eyes cock. At
another time, having called upon me at my mother's, I was led
by some circumstance, to advert to the awkward form and low
ceiling of the room ; but '' faith," said he, looking round, *' you
have made the most of it with furniture ;" which was true enough,
as it was unmercifully overloaded with chairs, tables and family
pictures. Such freedoms may fully justify me in scanning Mr.
Speke, who, to say the truth, was, in point of information, far
above the level which is allowed to the gentlemen of the British
army, by Swift and other writers of their nation. As to " your
JVoveds and Blutarks^ and Omars and stuff," I know not if he
was of the noble Captain's opinion, in Hannah's animated plea
for turning Hamilton's bawn into a barrack; but he had read
some of the English poets ; and speaking of Prior and Pope, I
remember his saying, that the former was much preferred to the
latter, by people of taste in England. But grant what we may
\o the sprightliness and easy gaiety of Prior, this can hardly be
304 BRITISH OFFICERS ON PAROLE.
the award of sound criticism. Being heartily tired of the condi-
tion of a captive, Mr. Speke was extremely anxious to get rid of
it, and to this effect suggested, that by mutual exertion, we might
be exchanged for each other. He said, that if I could obtain
permission for him to go into Philadelphia on parole, he had no
doubt of having sufficient interest to effect it. I accordingly
took the liberty to write to General Washington on the subject,
but was a long time in suspense as to the success of my ap-
plication. An additional inducement to the step, was, that both
Colonel Miles and Major West, had by requisition of General
Howe, repaired to Philadelphia ; and I every day expected a
similar summons. It had been given out that these gentlemen
had not observed all the passiveness which had been enjoined
upon them by their parole ; and I well knew that I was charged
with a like transgression. I had spoken freely, it is true, of the
treatment of prisoners; and this was considered by the Tories and
some of the British officers in our hands, as very unpardonable
in one who had been favoured as I had been ; and I was aware
that I was threatened with a retraction of the indulgence. I re-
mained, however, unmolested. The situation of Miles and West
in the neighbourhood of the army at White Marsh, was, perhaps,
the circumstance which gave colour to the accusation against
them ; but they were not long detained.
Besides, that it would have ill comported w^ith the indulgence
I enjoyed, it was abhorrent to my feelings, to behave haughtily to
a prisoner. There were two puppies, however, in that' predica-
ment, in whom I immediately recognised the insolent manner of
a genuine scoundfel in red; and these, I cautiously avoided.
They were subalterns ; one of whom, of the name of Wilson, was
base enough, under the false pretence of being related to the Cap-
tain Wilson, who he had some how learned had treated me with
civility, to borrow a few guineas of my mother, which it unluckily
slipped his memory to repay. Had I been aware of the applica-
tion, the loan would have been prevented ; but I never knew of
the circumstance until after his exchange. With the exception of
these fellows, who, I had the mortification to hear, had found their
way to General Washington's table, at the time of their being
■BI'nSH OFFICERS ON PABOL£. 30&
taken, all the prisoners in Reading behaved with much decency.
Among them, were a number of German officers, who had really
the appearance of being, what we call, down-right men. There
was a Major Stine, a Captain Sobbe and a Captain Wetherholt of
the Hessians, whom I sometimes fell in with. There were several
others, with whom I was not acquainted, and whose names I do
not remember. One old gentleman, a colonel, was a great pro*
fessional reader, whom, on his application, I accommodated with
such books of the kind, as I had. Another of them, a very portly
personage, apparently replete with national phlegm, was, never-
theless, enthusiastieaUy devoted to music, in which, he was so
absorbed, as seldom to go abroad. I did not know this musical
gentleman, except by sight ; but I have understood from those
who did, that call upon him at what time they would, and, like
another Achilles in i^etiremeat^
AmasM at ease, the godlike man they found.
Fleas>d with the solemn harp's harmonious sound :
for this was the obsolete instrument, from which he extracted the
sounds that so much delighted him. But of all the prisoners, one
Graff, a Brunswick officer ta^n by General Gates's army, was
admitted to (he greatest privileges. Under the patronage of Doc-,
tor Potts, who had been principal surgeon in the Northern Depart-
ment, he had be^i introduced to our dancing parties ; and being
always afterwards invited, he never failed to attend. He was a
young man of mild and pleasing manners, with urbanity enough
to witness the little triumphs of party without being incited to ill
humour by them. Over-hearing a dance called for> one evening,
which we had named Burgoyne^s surrender ^ he obsen^ed to his;
partner, that it was a very pretty dance, notwithstanding the name ;
and that (Jeneral Burgoyne himself would be happy to dance it
in such good company. There was also a Mr. Stutzoe, of the
Brunswick dragoons, than whose, I have seldom seen a figure
more martial ; or a manner more indicative of that manly open-,
ness, which is supposed to belong to the character of a soldier. I
had a slight acquaintance with him ; and recollect with satisfac-
26*
306 EXCLUSIVE PATRIOTISM.
tion, his calling on me at the time of his exchange, to make me
his acknowledgments, as be w^s pleased to say, for my civilities
to the prisoners.
Perhaps I may be excused f^r these trifling details, when it is
considered, that they serve to mark the temper of the times, and
to show, that they were not all fire and fury, as certain modem
pretenders to the spirit of Seventy-Six^ have almost persuaded us
they w^ere. It ought to be granted, indeed, that an equal degree
of toleration was not every where to be met with. It would
scarcely have been found in that description of persons, which
soon arrogated, and have since voted themselves the exclusive
possession of all the patriotism in the nation. Even that small
portion of the monopolists which resided at Reading, revolted at
a moderation they did not understand; and all who were less vio-
lent and bigoted than themselves, were braaded as Tories. All
the families which had removed from Philadelphia were involved
in this reproach ; and, in their avoidance of the enemy to the
manifest injury of their affairs, they were supposed to exhibit
proofs of disaffection. Nor was I much better off: my having
risked myself in the field was nothing: I should have staid at
home, talked big, been a militia<nan and hunted Tories.
In confirmation of my remaik, that toleration was not among
the virtues affected by those who were emphatically styled the
PEOPLE, I will instance the case of a young Scotch officer of the
name of Dunlap, who was one day beset in the street by certain
persons overflowing with Whigism ;• and, for presuming to resent
the insults he received from them, was not only severely cudgeled,
but afterwards put to jail. This treatment might have fairly
$quared with that of our officers from the royal side, in relation to
the fish sellers ; though I will undertake to aver, that, generally
speakingj the prisoners in our hands, were treated both with lenit}*
and generosity. Some time ailer this affiuy, happening, at a table
in Philadelphia, to be placed by the side of Doctor Witherspoon,
then a member of Congress, I took occasion to mention it to him ;
and to intercede for his good offices in regard to the liberation of
Dunlap, who was still in jail. I counted something upon the
nation^ spirit, supposed to be so prevalent among North Britons;
DR. WITHEBSPOON. 307
and yet more, upon the circumstance of knowing from Dunlap
and two other young Scotchmen, his fellow prisoners, that Doctor
Witherspoon had been well acquainted with their families. I did
not find, however, that the Doctor was much melted to compassion
for the mishap of his countryman, as he contented himself with
coldly observing, that if I could suggest any substantial ground
for him to proceed upon, he would do what he could for the young
man. It appeared to me, that enough had been suggested, by my
simple relation of the facts ; and I had nothing more to offer. But
whether or not my application was of any benefit to its object,
my presentation of the laddies to the recollection of the Doctor,
seemed to have something of national interest in it ; and had the
effect, to incite him to a shrewd remark, according to his manner.
He told me he had seen the young men soon after they had been
taken, and was suprised to find one of them, whose name I forget,
so much of a cub. His father, said he, was a very sprightly fel-
low, when I knew him. This lad is the fruit of a second marriage ;
aiid I immediately concluded, when I saw him, said the Doctor,
that Jemmey, oar Sawney something, mentioning the father's name,
had taken some clumsy girl to wife for the sake of a fortune.*
* JoHPf WiTHUsrooiff, D. D^ L. L. D. He was born in Scotland, and was dis-
tin^nished among the Scotch Clergy for talent and influence. He was twice in-
vited to the Presidency of Princeton College,, and finally arrived in New Jersey
with his family, in 1 768. The War of the Revolution dispersed the students, and
President Witherspoon almost immediately entered upon political life. He was
a member of the Convention which formed the Constitution of New Jersey, and
in 1776 was appointed a member of Congress, and retained his seat during the
War. His name is afiixed to the Declaration of Independence, and the articles
of Confederation. Afler the War,, he returned to his duties at the College. He
died in 1794, in the 73d year of his age. — Ency. Amer.
''On the morning of our national birth-day,. the fourth of July, 1776, when the
Declaration of American Independence was made — when the Committee, pre-
viously appointed to draft that instrument, made their report through their Chair-
man, Thomas Jeffrrson — and by whom ii was read, the House paused — besi-
tated^ That instrument, they saw, cut them off even from the mercy of Great
Britain. They saw with prophetic vision all the horrors of a sanguinary war —
carnage and desolation passed in swift review before them. They saw the
prospect of having riveted still more closely upon their already chafed and bleed-
ing limbs the chains of slavery. The House seemed to waver — silence, deep and
solemn «ilencc, reigned throughout the hall of the spacious Capitol. Every
308 SELFISHNESS OF COMMUNITIES.
On looking back here, and adverting to the free observations I
have from time to time made, both on revolutionary men and
measures, I am aware, that I have no forgiveness to expect from
many, for attempting to rub off the fine varnish which adheres to
them. But I set out with the avowed design of declaring the
truth ; and to this, I have most sacredly and concientiously con-
formed, according to my persuasions, even as to the colouring of
each particular I have touched upon. The same veracity shall
direct my future delineations, well knowing, that, independently
of my obligation to do justice, this alone must constitute the
merit of my Memoirs. ITiat we were not, and still are not with-
out patriotism, in an equal degree, perhaps, with other nations, I
have no inclination to question ; but that a noble disinterestedness
and willingness to sacrifice private interest to public good, should
be the general disposition any where, my acquaintance with human
nature, neither warrants me in asserting or believing. The preva-
lence of generous sentiment, of which, no doubt, there is a portion
in all communities, depends very much upon those, who have the
direction of their affairs. Under the guidance of Washington,
both during the Revolution and his administration of the General
Government, the honourable feelings being cherished and brought
coantenance indicated that deep meditation was at work ; and the aolemn i
lations were calling for double energy. At this fearful crisis^ when the very
destiny of the country seemed to be suspended upon the action of a moment, the
silence, the painful silence was broken. An aged patriarch arose — a veneraMe
and stately form, his head white with the frosts of many years. H^ cast on the
assembly a look of inexpressible interest and unconquerable determination ;
while on his visage the hue of age was lost as burning patriotism fired his
cheek. 'There is,' said he, *a tide in the affairs of men, a nick of time. We
perceive it now before us. That noble instrument upon your table, which ensures
immortality to its author, should be subscribed thi» very morning, by every pea
in the house. He who will not respond to its accents and strain every nerve to
carry into effect ils provisions, is unworthy the name of a freeman. Although
these gray hairs must descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they
should descend thither by the hand of the public executioner, than desert at this
crisis the sacred cause of my country.' The patriarch sat down, and forthwith
the Declaration was signed by every member present Who waa that venerable
patriarch? It was John Withkrstoom, of New Jersey, a distinguished Minister
of the Presbyterian Church, a lineal descendant of John Knox, the great Scotch
Kefotmerr^S^eeh of the Rtw. S. S. Tmpleton.— Ed.
THE AUTHOR EXCHANGED — AND MARRIED. 309
into action, they had a temporary predominance over those, which
were selfish and base. But these, in their turn, having acquired
the ascendency, we may sadly recognise with the poet, that
** An empty form
Ib the weak virtae that amid the shade
Lamenting lies, with futare schemes amused,
While wickedness and folly, kindred jpoioers,
Confound the world.**
The liberty I have taken, in making the reader the confidant
of the attachment I carried with me into the army, and brought
home with me, unimpaired, on the extension of my parole, im-
poses it upon me as a sort of duty in point of poetical justice, to
announce my marriage, which took place in the spring of 1778.
But this was not until my exchange had been notified to me by
Colonel Boudinot, the Commissary of prisoners ; and having now
little before me, but the vapid occurrences of retired life, I shall
here hold myself absolved from farther attention to any matters
merely of a personal or private nature. Captain Speke had gone
into Philadelphia, some time before ; and it is not improbable,
that we had been exchanged for each other ; but, of this, I was
not informed. I was now at liberty to act, and was also liable
to be called into Service ; but, however willing I might have
been to consider myself a soldier, or to obey orders, I had no
regiment to join, or men to command. The third battalion still
existed in name, but with scarce a particle of its original mate-
rials. It was entirely changed as to officers and men, with the
exception, perhaps, of one or two of the former, that had escaped
captivity by absence on account of sickness or otherwise. The
affair of Fort Washington, had an effect not unlike that of enter-
ing into a monastery in England, in days of yore : as, in the one
case, a man was said to be civilly dead, so in the other he was
militarily so ; and although as much alive as ever to corporeal
wants and necessities, yet was he dead as an antediluvian, as to
all purposes of worldly advantage. Nor was it the garrison
alone, but the very event itself, that was offensive to remembrance ;
and it has grown into a sort of fashion among our annalists, to
pass lightly over this inauspicious transaction, somewhat in the
310 HISTOKICAL TRUTH.
same spirit, that Rome, according to Lucan, was willing to forget
the disastrous day of Pharsalia.
** Tempora si^avit leviorum Roma malorum
Hunc volait nescire diem."
The compiler of the article "America," in Mr. Dobson's En-
cyclopedia, does indeed inform us, that there was such a fortress,
which, some how or other, fell into the hands of the British, who
by the bye, did not catch a man of the garrison. Other chro-
niclers, of an humbler class, are equally concise upon the occa-
sion ; and even the very fanciful biographer, who gives to the boy-
hood of General Washington, certain prettinesses we should
have little suspected it of, and to General Wayne, the manners
of a rustic booby with the blundering facilities of a true Hiber-
nian, finds, in it, no attractions for the strokes of his very popular
pencil. These are but summaries, it is true, in which we ought
not to look for full details ; yet, as they are more generally read
than ampler histories, and thence tend to fix the colours of the
time, it is of consequence that they should exhibit some resem-
blance of the facts and characters they profess to treat of.*
* There is no aUasion in these remarks to The Life of WATBiNOTOiff by Dr.
Ramsay, which, in fact, I did not see mitil after they were written. Thoagb
brief on the transaction, as the nature of his work required, he touches it with a
due regard to truth and the reputation of those concerned.
The false in manners and character is as reprehensible as the false in fact,
but when the former is built upon the latter it is truly odious. Nor can the
making of a good book, in the language of the Trade, justify this transferring a
story from the infancy of Doctor Bcattib to that of General Wasbinotoic, nor
from the cups of an old army contractor in the war of 1756, to those of General
Wayne in the war of the Revolution. In the one case. General Washington is
represented as a pert jackanapes of a much later date, as the bon repot of General
Watnx sets him before our eyes as a man wholly unacquainted with the forms
of good society. On the contrary. General Watni was a fashionable and dressy
man, familiar with city manners, and the tone of good breeding in his day. How
unworthy, then, of the biographer, and still more of the clerical character, to
vamp up and misapply old stories by way of seasoning to his kickshaws!*
* The present generation is more fortunate, if not wiser than the past The
press literally groans with elementary books, adapted to every capacity, and the
business of education is becoming comparatively easy over the ** royal road,**
onknown to our plodding predecessors. In regard to Histories and Biograj^ies,
CHABLE8 TUOMSOH. 311
But whatever may have been the common reluctance to advert
to the unlucky occurrences of the war, and the propensity to
dwell only on pleasing ones, nothmg can be more fair, and free
from misrepresentation, than were the official statements both of
Congress and Greneral Washington. Even the British officers,
from an experience of their veracity, came to consider the name
of Charles Thomson,* as a voucher, not to questioned ; nor was
there it no end to them, and the silly and once popular inventions of Wkkhs, who
u above referred to, are seldom seen in the hands of jndicioas and well informed
people. The streams of knowledge have been explored to their varioas soarces,
and the result is a flood of authentic and healthful information, invigorating and
fertilizing every section of this broad land. Foremost among the ablest of these
explorers is Ma. JAasD SpAass, whose many and important contributions to his.
torical and biographical lore entitle him to the gratitude of his country. The
industry and research displayed, especially in his noble editions of the Life and
Writings of Washiiioton, and of FaAWKLnc, can scarcely be conceived by the
mere reader of History. The Student only can properly appreciate the ability
and labour of this indefatigable investigator and Author. These, with his ** Ame-
rican Biographies," the work of various hands, and the numerous similar and
equally authentic publications which every where abound, leave no excuse for
ignorance in regard, especially, to the history of our country, and the lives and
services of its dbtinguished men. — En.
* Charles Thomson— the "Man of Trath," as he was styled by the Indians.
He was Secretary to the Congress of the Revolution — was a native of Ireland—
and came to this country, indigent and friendless, at the age of eleven years.
His ** quiet memory'* attracts but little notice in this bustling age, indifferent to
every thing but gain, yet the simple story of his useful and virtuous life would
be rich in impressive teachings. Tbohbon was furnished by one of his brothers
with the means to enter the school of Dr. Aujson, before mentioned, at Thunder
Hill, in Maryland. It is related, — so great was his thirst for knowledge, at a
time when ** books were so rare that a single lexicon served the whole school,—
that one of the boys having brought from Philadelphia a volume of the Spectator,
Thomson was so delighted with it, that upon his school-fellows* telling him that
a whole set of the work was for sale at a Book-Store in that place, he set off
the next day, without asking leave, walked the whole distance, and having pos-
sessed himself of the treasure, returned to school without farther delay." At
this Seminary he made such proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages and
Mathematics, as to enable him, while still very young, to keep the Friends'
Academy in Philadelphia. He subsequently married and entered into business
there. He was a strict republican in bis principles, and has had the credit of
having been first in opposition to the Stamp Act in Pennsylvania. He discharged
the duties of the office of Secretary to Congress, from the period of its first assem-
bling to the dose of the war, with credit to himself and advantage to the public.
His integrity was unimpeachable, and ** procured implicit credit for every thing
312 CHARLES THOMSON.
less respect due to the communications of the Commander-m-
chief, from which the annunciations of Congress were generally
derived. Such was the spirit and the policy oi Seventy-Six ; and
they were successful as they were honourable. Why then, they
should have been so lamentably departed from, and a suppresno
veriy have become the primary maxim of our government, it is
for the republicans of the Gallic school to explain.
published in his name.*' He assisted in the organization of the new goveroment,
afler the adoption of the Constitution, and was deputed to inform WASHinaTON of
his nominatimi to the Presidency. He soon after retired to private life, and em-
ployed himself upon a Translation of the Bible and a Synopsis of the New Tes.
iament. He died in 1834, aged 95 years. — £o.
AFFECTATION IN TITLES. 318
CHAPTER XIIL
Aftetation in Titles.— Eicape of Priioneri.— Major Winiamt.— Mr. Forrait*-
General Exchange of Priionen^— ^pemamerary Officers. — Generals Waib-
iNQToif and Charks Lee. — Character of Lee.^Drayton« — ^Laorensw— Military
Anecdotes^ — Author enrolled in the Militia.-* Wanton Oppression.— Mr. Panrin.
—Soaker Opinions of War.— Dr. Franklin. — Visiters at Reading. — Mrs.
Macaolay. — Popular Feeling.— Milton.— Constitutionalists and RepuUicans*—
Author obtains an appointment— John Dinkinson.— Political Consislency^ —
Charles James Fox.
Mt hankerings after the business of the tented field, which,
dog*s life as it is, I had become fond of, had led me to visit the
camps both of White Marsh and Valley Forge, at each of
which I spent a day or two. At the first, we had a better
army than I had yet seen. The post too, I thought ^ good one ;
and it soon after appeared to be sufficiently respected by General
Howe, to induce him to decline attacking it, although he had
apparently drawn out his army for the purpose. At Valley
Forge, the aspect of afiairs was different, the army being re-
duced and in a wretched state. Baron de Steuben was, how-
ever, here ; and just beginning to infuse into it, that discipline
and regularity, in which it was still too deficient On reaching
the camp, I shaped my course for the tent of Colonel Stewart,
who, I was informed, was at a barbecue on the banks of the
Schuylkill ; and being directed to the place, I found him there,
together with the greater part of the principal officers of the
army. It is scarcely necessary to say, that the Commander in
Chief was not there, nor any of those more immediately attached
to his person. Neither was General Lee of the company. He
had been invited, but had drily replied, that '* he did not like
barbecues.'' In fact, they are seldom a very attic entertain-
ment; and it is probable that Lee's mind was not disposed to
27
314 ESCAPE OF PaiSONE&S.
hilarity. He had but lately been exchanged ; and it is not un-
charitable to suppose, that he was beginning to discover, that,
much as he hated the British court, he was not, as he had once
supposed, Americanior ipsis Americanis^ more American than
the Americans themselves. It being late in the afternoon, the
party was joyous and pretty full of liquor ; and I had the chagrin
to observe, that the drummer and fifer who made music for
them, and were deserters from the enemy, were sneering at
some of the gentlemen, who did not entirely preserve the dignity
of their stations ; and were by much too liberal in the reciprocal
use of the term General, for that oblivion to self-consequence,
which is the most graceful attendant of condition, and so much
appreciated in the British army, as to introduce a species of
affectation in the other extreme, substituting Mr. for the title of
rank. Lee, for instance, says Mr. Howe and Mr. Wolf; and
it was not always a disrespect, when a British officer said Mr.
Washington. I am sensible, that it is against the laws of good
fellowship, for a sober man to make reflections upon a mellow
company into which he may chance to be introduced ; but I
mention no names, and indeed my memory would hardly serve
me were I disposed to do it. Still, I have a perfect recollec-
tion of the circumstance ; and cannot but recognise, that there
was no time, at which the question sometimes peevishly asked
by Conway, Did Congress see you before they appointed yout
might not have been applicable to some of the officers of our
army in every grade.
On the first day of December, 1777, my fellow-prisoners on
Long Island were, on account of a suspected descent upon that
place, put on board of a prison-ship, and there detained two
weeks. Their treatment, it seems, was not to be complained
of. It could hardly have been otherwise, says the officer from
whose information I give the statement, since, it would not ha ire
been safe for any man or dozen of men to have treated us ill.
During their confinement, Major Jack Stewart, before noticed
in these memoirs, and one or two others, whom I do not re-
member, found means to make their escape. A boat, one eve-
ning, happened to be fastened to the vessel's side. The chance
MAJOR WILLIAMS MR. F0ERE8T. 815
of escaping in her was immediately suggested by Lieutenants
Forrest and Woodside, the latter also of Shee's regiment, and
they resolved to make the attempt : but, previously to engaging
in it, they stepped between decks, either for some papers or
articles of clothing that were in their trunks. In the mean
time, Stewart and the others availed themselves of the oppor-
tunity, quietly let themselves down into the boat, cast her off,
and let her drift astern of the ship. They .were lucky enough
to get clear of her unperceived ; and at length to reach the
Jersey shore in safety, notwithstanding that their elopement was
soon discovered. But it being dark, pursuit was unavailing, as
y^ere also some random shots fired upon the occasion. The
disappointment to Forrest and Woodside, when they found
themselves supplanted, was extreme ; and still more cruel when
it appeared, that the adventurers had been successful.
Early in the Spring, I think, of 1778, I got a letter from
Major Williams, acquainting me with his release, by exchange,
if I am not mistaken.* It breathed the most extravagant joy ;
and the excessive friskiness he describes on touching our actual
territory, put me in mind of that of Francis the First, upon find-
ing himself once more at liberty, after his long detention at
Madrid. Williams, it is true, was not restored to a throne ; but
be was restored to his country, to the right of proclaiming his
sentiments and wishes, to the right of locomotion and action,
and, above all, to the right of avenging his wrongs, and particu-
larly a cruel confinement in the provost prison, from which his
exchange had immediately delivered him. His motives, there-
fore, for exultation, were not less than those of the King of
France.
In the summer following, I had also notice of the liberation
of Mr. Forrest, which, from the singularity of its circumstances,
requires some detail. It had been a settled opinion among us at
Flatbush, that if the place, or we who were stationed there, by
a military operation, should fall into the hands of our people, for
* He wu exchanged for Major Aokland of BoKoonfK*! amy, of whoee kind-
aeM and libenl treatment of Williama, eee an interesting aooonnt in WilUneon'e
Memoira, ▼. i, pp. 376— 77«— Ed
316 SflCAPE OF PRieORERS.
ever so short a time, we were ipso facto released from the
obligation of remainiog with the enemy, notwithstanding oar
parole ; and it was under this idea, combined with a lucky and
unexpected adventure, that Forrest found himself a freeman. I
know not how far this opinion of ours may be conformable to
the jus belli as established among nations, but it was our deduc-
tion from principles, which we held to be correct, and of general
and equal applicatipn. I think it is also recognised in the old
play of prison-base, from which, if the idea was not original, it
is more probable we derived it, than either from Grotius,
Puifendorf, or Vattel. One Mariner, a New Yorker, in revenge
for some real or supposed ill treatment from Matthews, the
mayor of that city, made a descent, with a small party, upon the
island, with the view of getting Matthews into his clutches, who,
as I have already mentioned, had a house at Flatbush, and
generally slept there. He had it also in view, to obtain the
release of a Captain Flahaven, who had been billetted in my
place, on Jacob Suydam. Disappointed in both objects, he
liberated Forrest by means of his magical power, and made
prisoners of Mr. Bache and Major Moncrief, the latter of whom
spent much of his time at Flatbush, where he had a daughter.
But I will give the relation in the words of Mr. Forrest, who,
on my application for the particulars of the event, has thus
communicated them in answer to certain queries proposed.
** Mariner was the man who took me from Long Island. He
was a shoemaker, and had been long confined and cruelly used,
as I understood, by Matthews, who, it seems, knew him person-
ally. The name of the officer who lodged with me was
Flahaven, a captain, who had been in the provost with Mariner,
and whom he particularly wished to release; but, having
changed his quarters, he could not be got at. Mariner crossed
from the Jersey shore, and retreated to, and landed at the place
of his departure, or near it, a distance of two miles across. His
party consisted originally of twenty militia men, in two flat-
bottomed boats. At his landing on Long Island, he left his two
boats under the guard of five men, while he visited the interior;
but these five, hearing a firing, which was kept up upon us by
E8CAPB OF PEIflONratS. 317
the Flatbush guard, while we were taking our prisoners, con«
eluded that Mariner was defeated and taken ; so, without further
ceremony, they took one of the boats and made their escape.
The other boat, as we reached the shore, was just going adrift :
we were much crowded in her, but it fortunately was very calm,
otherwise we could not have weathered it. Matthews was on
the top of his house, at the time of the search for him. We got,
from our place of landing, in wagons, to Princeton. Mr. Bache
and Moncrief lodged there in the same house with me for two
or three days. How they were disposed of afterwards, I do
not know, as I was sent on with an explanatory letter from
(Tovemor Livingston to General Washington ; but Bache I think
was sent home shortly, and Moncrief also, (who was a good
prize,) as a prisoner on parole. Mariner's party must have
stayed at Flatbush nearly two hours, for they were there some
time before the alarm was taken, and there was afterwards time
to despatch an Express to Brooklyn for assistance, and the rein-
forcement which came in consequence, was pretty close upon
us, as we could see them on the shore, when we had left it about
a quarter of an hour. This happened on the 15th of June,
1778, the very day two years, I had marched from Phila-
delphia."
From this episode it appears, that the moral of ^sop's fable,
respecting the eagle at the top of the tree, that, by the law of
power, had made free with the fox^s whelps below, was very
near being brought home to Mr. Matthews. Mr. Bache, as
Forrest has told me, was overwhelmed with his disaster ; and
interceded with him, as, from bis civility to us, he had a right
to do, for his good offices with Governor Livingston, which, I
have no doubt, were duly exerted for him. Major Moncrief,
like an old soldier, submitted with a more equal mind to the
fortune of war, reminding Bache, that he had often told him,
they were not safe at Flatbush. But Bache had peculiar cause
for dejection, on account of the consternation, into which his
wife and children had been thrown by the attack of his house,
and his being forcibly seized and borne away in the dead of the
night Upon delivering Governor Livingston's letter to General
27*
818 ESCAPE OF P&I80NER8— OENEEAL EXCHANGE.
Washington, Forrest stated the circumstances under which he
had come out, and had conceived himself liberatcid, bat added,
that if the act did not meet his Excellency's entire approbation,
he begged to be permitted to return immediately to New York.
The General observed, that it was a nice case, on which, much
might be said on both sides, but that, at any rate, a return to
confinement was unnecessary; that he was at liberty to go
home, and that, if upon consideration, he should be of opinion,
that the mode of his release was not warranted by the rules and
usages of war, a prisoner of equal rank should be exchanged
for him. Not long after this enterprise of Mariner, a general
exchange of .prisoners took place, and all were put upon an
equal footing. To beguile the tedious hours of captivity, Colonel
Magaw had taken to himself a wife, as had one or two others.
A policy had arisen from the pressure of our affairs, to give
every man a commission who was likely to pick up a few re-
cruits. This, at least, was the case in Pennsylvania ; hence,
as to officers, all the regiments were not only complete, but
overflowing ; and upon the reorganization of the army, there
were a great many supernumerary. Of this description, those
who had been taken at Fort Washington, emphatically were.
They were considered as extinct ; and their places had been
supplied by others. A show, indeed, was made in the fall of
1778, of doing justice to their claims, so far as it might be prac-
ticable. But it was evident, that a reinstatement in the rank to
which they were entitled by the rule of seniority, was not to be
effected without extreme embarrassment, and injury to the Ser-
vice. A very few, who had been willing to engage in the
scramble, had been retained ; but none without the chagrin of
seeing new men, and numbers who had originally ranked below
them, now above them. Captain Tudor contrived to squeeze
in, as did also Captain Biles ; and I do not recollect another of
our regiment, except Bitting, who was provided for. He was
a second Lieutenant with us, and lost his life in the rank of a
Captain, at the time of the mutiny in the Pennsylvania line. In
MarshalPs Life of Washington, he is erroneously called BilUng.
But on consideration, I rather think, that Bitting had not been
8UPERRUMSRABT omCERS. 319
a prisoner; and if so, be is no exception to the general exclu-
sion» and hi^advance in rank is naturally accounted for. He
was at liberty to attend to his interests. I never applied for
reinstatement ; but» bad my country really wanted my services,
and there had been an opening, in which I could have been pro-
vided for, without too much degradation, I do not hesitate to say,
that I should have laid aside all private considerations, and em-
braced it. To show, that I do not exaggerate the difficulties
which opposed a continuance in the army, I shall content my-
self with referring to two letters of General Washington upon
the subject. In the first, dated the 10th of November, 1777,
addressed to Congress, he says : ^ Among the various difficulties
attending the army, the adjustment of rank is not the least
This, owing to the several modes, the several principles that
have prevailed in granting commissions, is involved in grAit
perplexity. The officers of the Pennsylvania troops are in
much confusion about it : in many instances, those who were
junior in rank, from local and other circumstances, have ob-
tained commissions older in date than those which were granted
afterwards to officers tlieir superiors before. This, with many
other irregularities, has been, and is, the cause of great uneasi-
ness ; and though precedency of rank, so claimed, should not be
supported in justice, or upon any principle, we find all, having
the least pretence for the title, strenuous to support it, and wil-
ling to hold a superiority .** In the second letter, dated August
21st, 1778, relating to the restoration of Colonel Rawlings,who
had presented a memorial in behalf of himself and the officers
of his corps, after doing ample justice to their bravery at Fort
Washington, he says : ** It seems hard that officers of their
merit should be overlooked ; and a loss to the service, that they
should remain unemployed : but, the consequences that would
attend their incorporation with any of the corps now existing,
appear too disagreeable to try the experiment" A conviction
of the existence of these obstacles, concurring with motives of
a private nature, induced me to renounce the soldier's trade ;
but not without poignantly regretting my ** occupation gone,"
as often as *^ the spirit-stirring drum," or other ** circumstance
of glorious war," reminded me of the deprivation.
320 GENERALS WASHINGTON AND CHAELSS LEB.
The bitter animosity of General Lee* to the Commander in
Chief ailer the affair of Monmouth, is well known^ There were
not wanting a good number, who thought he had been hardly
dealt with ; and, with these, added to many that had real or
imaginary grounds for discontent, and the still greater number,
who already saw in Washington a character and influence,
which might give a check to the democratic career they had
in contemplation, he was in hopes of being able to form a party.
About this time, being in Philadelphia, I had the pleasure, one
day, of meeting my old friend Ekiwards in the street. He was
now the aide-de-camp of General Lee, with the rank of Major.
He was lavish in the praise of his General, whom he spoke of
as one with whose conversation, abounding with wit and in-
struction, I could not but be delighted ; and proposed taking me
I to* dine with him that very day. While we were yet upon his
!
* OnmAL Charlbs Lb wu born in England, wu a Mldier of fiittnne, and a
citizen of the world. He waa the third major-general appointed by CoogreH. Ha
was a man of ardent temperament, independent in thought and action, and veiy
ambitiooa. He lo ikr impoeed upon the credulity of Mr. Thomaa Rodney, of
Delaware, at to induce him to believe that he was the author of the ** LeClen of
Jnniua.*' Twenty years after the death of Lee, Mr. Rodney thus <*««»«* w»s««««ii
tliia important oonfeaaion to the public :
** General Lee said there waa not a man in the world, no, not OTcn Wood&Il,
the pnUiaher, that knew who the author waa ; that the lecret rested wholly with
himself and for ever would remain with him. Feeling in some degree surprised
at this unexpected declaration, after pausing a little, I replied, * No, General Lbs,
if you certainly know what you have affirmed, it can no longer remain solely with
him ; for certainly no one could know what you have affirmed but the author him-
seUI' Recollecting himself^ he replied, *■ I have unguardedly committed myselC
and it would be but folly to deny to you that I am the author; but I must requset
yon will not reveal it during my life; for it never waa, nor ever will be, revaaled by
me to any other.' He then proceeded to mention several circumstances to verify his
being the author, and, among them, that of hie going over to the Continent, and
absenting himself from England the most of the time in which these letters weie
published in London. This he thought necessary, lest by some accident the
anthor should become known, or at least suspected, which might have been his
ruin.'* He died in PhiUdelphia, on the 9d of October, 1783, at the age of Sittj^
one. La hie delirium, the last words he was heard to utter were, ** Stand by mci
my brave grenadiers !" He had previously expressed a wish ** not to be buried
within a mile of Presbyterian ground— as he would, otherwise, be too near very
bad company !" He was buried in Christ Church Cemetery, in Second OtiuU oa
the south side of the Church. See Appendix (L).— Ed.
OERESALS WASHINGTON AND CHARLES LEE. 821
subject, the General appeared on the other side of the street,
and, crossing over to us, I had the honour of being presented to
bun* He soon, however, marred Edwards's proposal of dining
at his quarters, by asking where he dined, and giving him to
understand, that he, the General, did not dine at home. Whether
he was now in one of his saving moods, to which he was said
to be occasionally addicted, and only meant this as a ruse de
guerre to keep the war from his own territories, I know not, but
certain it is, that Edwards had calculated upon a different
arrangement, and fully expected to have owed his dinner of the
day to the cook of his General After a few minutes' conversa-
tion, I left him, but not before agreeing with Edwards upon a
time and place of meeting next day.
The life of General Lee, as presented in the volume pub-
lished by one of his friends, under the title of Memoirs, holds
out very salutary instruction to factious and discontented spi-
rits.* Though he commences his career among us, as an
American and a democrat, he at length subsides in the Eng-
lishman and aristocrat He finds out that he has kept very
bad company in America ; and that her independence, which
he has been among the most ardent to promote, will be a curse
rather than a blessing to her. Washington, to him, becomes
another George the Third ; and his * earwigs,' courtiers as cor-
rupt as those of any sceptred calf, uxdf, hcg, or ass; to use the
language of his letter to Dr. Rush. It must be confessed,
however, that if he acted to the best of his judgment at Mon-
mouth, his treatment is to be lamented, as a hard and ungener-
ous return for the zeal he once manifested in our cause. But
his conduct in this affair, to say the least of it, betrays a total
want of American feeling. Having, in the latter part of his
captivity, been treated with attention by the British officers, his
old discontents appear to have been effaced by the greater
poignancy of new ones ; and if, as has been asserted, he ex-
* The Lmt or ha^by Mr. Spabki, in the 8Ui Tolunie of the new eeries of** The
librarf of Americui Biography,** paUithed in 184S, may also be itrongly reoom-
mendad. It ia the moat latiaikctory aoocmnt of thia erratic nfeniua that haa yet
appealed, and ia ezoeeding^ly intereating and well written.— Eo.
822 CHARACTER OF LEB.
claimed in the hearing of his troops, that ** the British grena-
diers never run," it would almost seem a sufficient ground to
convict him of disaffection, if not treachery. I shall not, how-
ever, impute them to him ; neither am I prepared to say, that
his conduct was unmilitary. I would rather suppose, if he
committed a fault, it was because he was too respectful of the
enemy ; and that he was too scientific, too much of a reasoner
for a merely executive officer ; ** for action too refined,*' as
Pope says, or as Voltaire expresses it :
Mail loaTent il te trompe k Ibroe de prudenoe,
n ett irreaolu par trap de preroyanoe,
MotDs agissant qa'habile.— *
As to his early republicanism, and fancied attachment to
liberty and the rights of man, there is no reason to think him
insincere. That he cordially detested, at least, the courtly arts,
for which he had not temper; and in whose career, if he ever
tried it, he had been far outstripped by more pliant competitors,
I have not the smallest doubt ; but, if he supposed, by an ex-
change of the sovereign one for the sovereign fnany^ he was to
restore the reign of manly candour and blunt honesty, how
much, how very much, alas, was he deceived !
With all his abilities and acquaintance with the polite world,
the General was certainly a very indiscreet man, with little
dignity of character: witness the frequent scrapes he got into,
and particularly the ridiculous one with Miss Franks, in which,
the most complete success of the jeu JC esprit could have added
nothing to the fame of the major-generaLf
In my interview with Edwards the next day, he gave me a
number of military anecdotes, and let me into the state of par-
ties in the army. As might be supposed, he was a warm par-
tisan of Lee, though at the same time, expressing great respect
for the virtues of the Commander-in-chief. Among other things,
he gave me the details of Lee's quarrel with Mr. William Henry
* See Appendix M.— En.
t See Appendix N. for the particolan of this affiur.— En.
CHARACTER OF LEE DRAYTON.
Drayton,* repeating the words of the letter of defiance, of
which he was the bearer, and in which Mr. Drayton is sarcas*
tically represented as a mere Malvolio, &c. — also, of the duel
with Colonel Laurens, in which he acted as the second or
friend of Lee. Colonel Laurens and his attendant, Colonel
Hamilton, were, it seems, rather late in coming to the ground.
During the delay produced by this circumstance, Edwards
took occasion to amuse his Principal, if amusement it might be
called, with some metaphysical subtilties on predestination,
free will, &c., a little in the style of the disquisition of the
Brissotines on a future state, when on their way to the guillo-
tine. From want of punctuality in the adversaries, he also
suggested, that they might not come at all ; but Lee replied,
there was no danger of that, as Colonel Laurens was a man
of unquestionable bravery ; and the observation was imme-
diately verified by his appearanccf The manner of fighting
was somewhat new; and, if I am not mistaken, it was on Lee's
suggestion it was adopted. Taking their ground and facing
each other, it was agreed, that either should fire when he
* This eminent citizen was cut off in the midst of his useful and brilliant
career, at an early stage of the Revolution. He died in Philadelphia, September,
1779, in his thirty-seTenth year. William Hknrt Dratton, of South Carolina,
was one of the earliest and most active defenders of the liberties of his country,
in the first stages of the revolutionary movements. His writings contributed
equally to enlighten the public mind, and enforce the claims of justice. A charge
to the Grand Jury of Charleston, delivered by him as Chief Justice of South Caro.
Hna, on the 23d of April, 1776, is one of the most important historical documents
of that period, whether considered in regard to the &ctB it contains, or the fbroe
of its arguroenti. He was an efficient member of Congress, and was conspicuous
for the part he took in counteracting the objects of the British Commissioners, by
•everal spirited and well-written essays in the newspapers. — See DrayUm^e Jtfe.
mstrs, and Sparke* Writinge of Waehington, vol. v. p. 439. .
Mr. JcmcRsoN was indebted almost as much to Judge Deatton's celebrated
** Charge,** as he was to the patriotic and spirited eiiixena of MeekUnburgk^ for
the sentiments and much of the language of the ** Declaration of Independence,"
that enduring monument at once of patriotism, and of genius and skill in the art
of appropriatum ! — Ed.
t For another purpose the Editor has been kindly fhmished by Ma. Gioaac W.
P. CuBTis, with some interesting particulars in relation to this gallant officer, which,
as they will bear repetition, he has placed in the Appendix, to which the reader is
reiened. See Appendix 0<— Eo.
324 MILITA&T ANBOBOTES ^LAUEBHS.
thought proper. Accordingly they both advancedy and the
efiect was, that at the same instant, each presented and drew
the trigger. Colonel Laurens* ball grazed the side of General
Lee, carrying away sonne flesh and producing a considerable
effusion of blood. The Principals proposed another shot, but
the Seconds agreed that enough had been done; and so the
affair ended, without the smallest bearing, however, on the
point in controversy, to wit, whether General Lee was right
or wrong in speaking reproachfully of the Commander-in-chief;
I and only establishing the fact, that the combatants could risk
their lives with the gallantry and self-possession of soldiers and
' men of honour.*
Major Edwards further gave me the particulars of a similar
affair, in which he himself had been concerned as principal in Ca-
I rolina ; and, in which, the small knowledge he had derived from
me, in the noble science of fencing, had enabled him to triumph
. over an adversary, who thought to obtain an advantage of him
by commuting the pistol, with which it had been at first agreed
to fight, for the small sword. His skill in the weapon was not,
I / indeed, brought to the test ; but the readiness he evinced to put
I it to issue, induced his prevaricating opponent to succumb and
I make him concessions.
I From his aptitude to take the tone of good company, and his
! • Had not tiiis ««fiici*' been well ''eetablisbed** befere 7 History inlbmM «
tliat it had; and if it were untit», the boeiito meeting here reftried U^ cannot fririy
be cited in ▼erification. Althoogh brave men, aa in thia inatanoe particolarly,
\ have reaorted to thia mode of adjosting their difficoUiea, many a poltroon haa been
ibroed, sadly against his own volition, into this position of ** kornmr/' There can
be nothing more iiuantly ahturd than the condescension of men, especially those of
I nnqnestionable repotation for ooorage, to thia savage and senaeleas mode of ** csls.
I Nt«AiiiglAe/a<:(;**anditismachtobe regretted that siieA men, at least, shooU
be deficient in the greater ooarage to reaist and defy the coatoms and reqatsitigns
of society, when— aa is too often the case— they are at varianoe with the solemn
I and imperative requiaitiona of the laws of Goo.
A clever anecdote has been related of General Adaie. A yoong officer con-
I oeiving .himself aggrieved, challenged Uie veteran, who took no notice of the
matter. A second note waa the consequence, in which Adaie was informed, that
if "* satisfaction" were not accorded, he woald •*post** him as a coward ! The
General Uien replied, in substance, that he might proceed, but assnredly In so
doing he would *«post" himself a •'/ool and m lUr^** as certainly no nan woold
believe him.— Eo.
WANTON OPPRESSION ^1IB« PA&VIN. 325
close intimacy with I^ee, whose manners and phraseology were
in the style of the highest military school, this gentleman, whose
first appearance had been so unpromising, had become a distin-
guished proficient in all the cavalier airs and ^'convenient
seeming" of a man of the sword ; of which the favour of Lee,
in selecting him for his second in his duels, may be considered
as a proof; as the devising to him a third part of his landed
estate in Virginia, may be taken as a voucher for his satisfac-
tion with him, in the capacity of his aide-de-camp.
As soon as it was understood at Reading, that I was no
longer in the army, care was taken to have me enrolled in the
militia ; and for declining to perform a tour of duty, which was
immediately imposed upon me, I found myself fined in a sum,
which I do not now recollect, but which, when reduced to
specie, was far from inconsiderable. I must confess, I consi-
dered this as very unfair treatment, and accordingly, submitted
my case in a memorial to President Reed, who shortly after
came to Reading, in consequence of a proclaimed intention to
visit the different parts of the State, for the purpose of hearing
and redressing grievances. I was not at home when he arrived,
but had left my memorial with a friend to be presented to him.
It was very favourably received, the gentleman who delivered
it, being instructed to inform' me, that the President would have
been glad to have seen me at Reading : that he considered the
fine which had been imposed upon me, very improper, and that
he would do what he could to prevent its exaction. His inter-
position proved effectual; and I had no further molestation
from the militia-men.
During the high-handed game, that was at this time playing
by that description of patriots, who, from their close adherence
to their homes, might emphatically be said to be fighting pro
focis^ a Mr. Thomas Parvin, of the Society of Friends, was an
object of much wanton oppression. He resided at Maiden
Creek, about six miles from Reading, and was nearly broken up
by the levies on his property for taxes and militia fines. A cow
or a horseT, for instance, was often taken and sold for some tri-
fling demand, and no surplus returned. Having sons grown up,
and enrolled in the militia, he was the more exposed to rapacity.
He frequently came to my mother's, to vend some product of
28
326 QUAKER OPINIONS OP WAR ^MR. BENEZET.
his farm, and talking with him one day, on the subject of his
grievances, I was drawn into a discussion of the non-resisting
principles of his sect ; and urging their impracticability in the
present state of the world, in a manner that discovered sym-
pathy for his sufferings, he was not displeased, and proposed
lending me a treatise in defence of their tenets, which he begged
I would read and give him my opinion of. In a few days, he ac-
cordingly sent it, accompanied with a very long letter, so ac-
curately written in all respects, as to convince me that Mr.
Parvin was a well-educated man and no mean polemic. In
compliance with his request, after reading his pamphlet, I gave
him pretty fully my observations in writing ; and here, I con-
cluded the discussion would terminate. In a few weeks after-
wards, however, I found it renewed in a letter from Anthony
Benezet of Philadelphia.* This pious and truly benevolent
man, thus explains in his first sentence, the cause of his ad-
dressing me :
" Esteemed Friend,
" My friend Thomas Parvin having communicated to me, thy
remarks with respect to the sentiments many in our Society
hold in the case of war, I found my mind drawn affectionately
to salute thee, and take the liberty to enclose thee a collection
of religious tracts, which, I have, at different times been instru-
mental in publishing." And he is further pleased to say — ^"I
am persuaded, that to a man of thy generous turn of mind,
many of the sentiments will not be disagreeable, particularly
the extract from the writings of Soame Jenyns," &c. — ^This
was an extract from his View of the Internal Evidence of the
Christian Religion. There were several other tracts in the
volume, one of which, A Letter from Elizabeth Webb to An-
tit^ony William Boehm, Mr. Benezet adds, " I think might prove
agreeable to thy mother and aunt, whom I affectionately sakite."
As it is not my intention to lead the reader into the subject of
this correspondence, it is enough to have barely stated it; and
* Anthony Benxzxt was a native of France. His parents were HogaeooCs,
and came to Philadelphia in 1731. His first employment was that of a teacher at
Germantown. He was particularly distinguished for his general philsnthropj,
and ardent opposition to the slave trade. He became a Quaker, and died at
Philadelphia in May 1784, at the age of 71 yean^Eo.
ME. IZARD CAPTAIN GADSDEN. 827
it appears to me, that I should have been wanting to myself*
had I suppressed an occurrence, which procured me the good
opinion of these plain, but innoxious, intelligent, and pious men.
In the summer probably of 1782 or '83, or thereabouts, Mr,
Ralph Izard, and Captain Gadsden, of South Carolina, being on
a tour through Pennsylvania, brought me a letter of introduc-
tion from Colonel Magaw, at Carlisle. Being desirous to render
them all the attention in my power, I had the pleasure of often
being with them. Captain Gadsden was a young man, who
had perhaps never been out of America ; but Mr. Izard, who
was advanced in years, had spent much of his time in Europe,
and was very entertaining on the subject of his travels ; giving
me, among other things, a more satisfactory account of the
awful wonders of Pompeii and Herculaneum, than I had yet
received. His manner, though blunt, announced the style of
the best company ; and though one of those who deliver their
opinions with freedom and decision, he seemed untinctured
with asperity upon every subject but one ; but this never failed
to produce some excitement, and his tone ever derived anima-
tion from the name of Dr. Franklin.* When, therefore, the
Doctor's daughter, Mrs. Bache, in speaking of the Carolinians,
said, that " she hated them all from B to Z," the saying, I pre-
sume, must be taken inclusively; since, though I know nothing
of the sentiments of Mr. Bee, I am enabled to pronounce those
of Mr. Izard to have been anti-Frank linian in the extreme.
What cause he had for this, I do not know, but he certainly
lost no opportunity of inveighing against the philosopher, to
whom, he said, he had once been warmly attached, and had
* Miu Izard had been in France, and on his return ** complained that Dr.
Franklin neglected to make proper representations to the French Ministry.** He
deemed it necessary to alarm the French Government with the danger of the
United Staiee fidling into the hands of England, unless she would contribute
largely to the support of the Republican cause. Count de Vergennes upon hearing
of these statements, declared that nothing could be more pernicious than to attempt
to alarm the French Government with false and ezagt^erated accounts. And in
his letter to Luzekne the French Minister at Philadelphia, he writes, "* I flatter
myself; that these marks of regard will be understood by the patriots, and will
dMtroy any prepossessions, which the ill-advised language of Mr. Izard and Mr.
Arthur Lee may have produced.*'— ^^f Art* Writingg of Wa$hvngtan^ vol vii.
328 DR. FRANKLIN.
attended as his friend, at the time he was so unmercifully
bespattered by Wedderbume. I sat upon thorns, said Izard ;
and had it been me, that had been so grossly insulted, I should
instantly have repelled the attack in defiance of every conse-
quence, whereas, this old man sat cowering like a caitiff, with-
out daring to utter a syllable.* But in repeating the words, I
do not join in the reproach of the Doctor's forbearance. As he
was not a ready public speaker, silence, was, perhaps, most
prudent and dignified. The extreme wariness of his character,
it is true, is not more congenial to my feelings than to those of
Mr. Izard. Nevertheless, when I reflect, that he possessed
qualities, which have not only enabled him to extend the limits
of human knowledge, but have pre-eminently entitled him to the
fame of a wise man ; that, to solidity of understanding, he
added the amenity of wit and good humour, and that his weight
and influence, so far as I know, have never been lent to in-
humanity, immorality, injustice, or oppression, I am entirely
disposed to acquiesce in the award of the world, and to consider
him as one, who has done honour to his country. He died
before the volcanic explosion of the French Revolution ; but, as
he tells us in his life, he had an early and steady abhorrence of
tyranny, we cannot, without giving the lie to this assertion,
suppose, if he had lived, that he could in any event have been
a jacobin or the fautor of a ferocious despotism.
Mr. George Lux, of Baltimore, who had married a dau^ter
of Mr. Edward Biddle, was, at this time, at Reading, and by
me, introduced to Mr. Izard and Mr. Gadsden. Mr. Lux was
the greatest reader in a certain line, I have ever known. His
historical knowledge was accurate to minuteness ; and he seemed
* The Ibrbearanoe and ooolneM of FnAiixuir on this memoraUe oocanoo, liov-
ever offensive it may have been to Ma. Ralph IzAao was well understood and ap>
preciated by mach wiser heads. The following letter quoted by Sparks in his
Lift of FaANKUif, p. 370, from Dr. Rush to Mr. AaTava Lnc,** will show the hifh
estimation in which Dr. FsAJixuir was held by his countrymen.** ^^lliera is a
general union among the colonies which no artifices of a Ministry will he abk
to break. Da. FsAifKLiN is a very popular character in every part of America.
He will be received, and carried in triumph to his house, when be arrives amoof
OS. It is to he hoped he will not consent to hold any more offices under govenu
ment No step hut this can prevent his being handed down to posleri^ i
the first and greatest characteri in the world.**— Eo.
VISITERS AT READING. 329
intimatdy acquainted with the ramifications and affinities, not
only of the great families in England, but also of those on every
part of the continent of Europe. Of these, he spoke with a
precision which astonished Mr. Izard, particularly when he
learned that he had never been out of America. " To what
purpose is it," said he, when afterwards speaking of Mr. Lux,
'^ that I have been travelling all my life, when this gentleman,
who has never left his armchair, knows more of the countries
I have visited than I do ; and what perplexes me most of all is*
that he even knows better than myself, the public business I was
employed in, and which was of a secret nature." But this
latter knowledge was obtained by Lux's having officiated for
his amusement, (having nothing better to do,) as secretary to
the board of Congress, which had regulated Mr. Izard's affair.
Yet with all this information, Mr. Lux appeared to me to pos-
sess but a very moderate share of judgment or discernment, and
to be little more than a dry matter of fact man. He had a
handsome paternal estate ; and at Chatsworth, his seat near
Baltimore, was in the habit of entertaining all strangers of dis-
tinction, though so shamefully negligent of his person, which
was naturally none of the best, as to seem not at all adapted to
this function. Among his guests, he was once honoured with
the company of Mrs, Macaulay, the historian, whom, at her
request, as he informed me, he accompanied to Mount Vernon,
on a visit to General Washington, where they stayed some days.
While in conversation, one day after dinner, the lady, in a high
republican strain, took occasion to expatiate on the vast advan-
tages of rotation in office. This was in the manner of an ap-
peal to her host, of whose approbation she seemed to be secure ;
but as the General was rather a practical or accidental, than a
republican by preference, I will not say a republican malgre luU*
• It may be safely averred, that a majority of our best whigs of 1776, were not
republicans by predilection ; bat still the best of practical republicans, as honest
and ▼irtuous men.
Nothing can be farther from the truth than the idea propagated for party pur-
poses, that the Declaration of Independence was an option made between the monar-
chicaland democralical form of government. The measive was adopted with ex-
treme reluctance, as the effect of dire necessity alone, as the only means of uniting
and giving efficiency to the opposition, and of obtaining foreign aid if it should be
28*
MRS. MACAULAT.
be could only carry his politeness so far as not absolutely to
dissent from the opinion ; and there was, of course, no com-
mingled flow of soul upon the occasion. But Mrs. Macaulay
was not the only person of her nation, who has found the re-
publicanism of the new world, lagging shamefully behind that
of the old. Experience is the best of schools ; and, in the
philanthropic science of levelling, as in others, we may truly
say:
Here, shallow draughts intoxicate the brain.
And drinking largely sobers us again.
One of the strongest cases in point, and which has been strangely
overlooked, is that of the poet Milton, against whom the great
Samuel Johnson, is supposed to be even more than usually in-
tolerant. He certainly could not have been aware, nor Mr.
Boswell either, (or from his profusion we should have heard of
it) of the following passage in the Paradise Regained, the last
work, and therefore, to be presumed to contain the last and
most solemn opinion of its author.
necessary— in short, as the only alternative between subjugation and voluntaTj
submission. The general sentiment in America, as the publications of the era will
testify, was an ardent attachment to the British Constitution, and a deep regret that
we were refused an equal participation in its benefits, in common with oar feUow-
subjects on the other side of the ocean. This was the constant language of ibe
day, both in public and private discourses, in official and in anonymous publica-
tions ; and it was not until a separation was deemed unavoidable that any attempts
were made to set forth its advantages. In the same spirit, aAer having become a
nation, and being invested with the right of governing ourselves, it was the policy
of our best and wisest men, alas, how fruitiess ! to check the wildness of innova.
tion, and to cling as much as might be, to the genius of the institutions under
which we had enjoyed our unexampled prosperity ; and in the same view to obli-
terate, as soon as possible, the mutual animosities engendered by the unhappy
contest Such was the object of Washinotoit, Jay, Hamilton, and other virtuous
and enlightened statesmen ; and we have it from Mr. Burke, that even Da. Frankun
whose name is often used to sanction the vagaries of democracy, suffered not only
a sigh, but an expression of regret to escape him, on account of the happiness we
were about to lose by our separation from the mother country, (see his Appeal to
the Old Whigs) ; and yet our poet-revolutionary and imported patriots, would make
us believe that the beginners of the Revolution were whigs afler the ftshion of
Thomas Paine and certain other European malecontente and reformers, aud oor
first Congresses composed of Jacobins, ** as true as ever snuffed the scent of blood,**
or devised the expeditious mode of taking off the heads of aristocraU by the guil-
lotine.
HILTON POPX7LAIL FEELING. 881
And what tin people, but a herd oonftis'd,
A miacellaneoiui rabble, who extol
Things vulgar, and well weigh'd, acaroe worth the praiie:
They praise and they admire they know not what ;
And know not whom, but as one leads the other ;
And what delight to be by such extolled.
To live upon their tongues and be their talk.
Of whom to be despised, were no small praise.
It would be difficult to conceive sentiments more at variance
with the republican maxim of Vox populi vox Dei ; and yet, they
are the sentiments of the sublime poet John Milton, the demo-
crat, the regicide, the secretary and parasite of Oliver Crom-
well. From this one man, we may learn the character of his
sect, the immaculate, people-adoring republicans of the present
hour. For the love of liberty, they will kill a king ; yet fawn
upon a usurper, clothed with a power infinitely less accountable,
infinitely more oppressive and tremendous. The crime then,
is not in "one proud man's lording it over the rest,"* but that
he should lord it in opposition to our particular interests and
prejudices. In the direction of these, he cannot be too high-
handed.
Party spirit, in Pennsylvania, had by this time, taken a con-
sistency, and the politicians were divided into Constitutianalista
and Republicans* The first rallied round the constitution al-
ready formed, which was reprobated by the others, for its total
deficiency in checks and counterbalancing powers, thence tend-
ing, as it was alleged, to rash, precipitate, and oppressive
proceedings. The term republicans was embraced, as recog-
nising the principles of the revolution, and as indicative perhaps
of tenets, which admitted the utility of modifications and re-
straints, in a system resting on the broad base of general suf-
frage and popular sovereignty. The word democt^at was not
yet much in use, neither was the distinction established between
a democrat and a republican, which appears to consist in the
idea, that the former is for placing the whole governing power
in the " multitude told by the head ;" the latter, for giving it
some checks, and infusing into it a leaven of what is termed by
Mr. Burke, the natural aristocracy of a country. But to do
* Terres tot posse sub uno
Esse Tiro.— Xiucan.
332 CONSTITUTIONALISTS AND REPUBLICANS.
this, where the source of power has been diligently explored
and discovered too, like that of the Nile, and universal suffrage
with the right to pull down and build up again, thence recog-
nised as a fundamental, may well puzzle the learned advocates
for strong executives, and independent judiciaries, and in the
end, perhaps, turn all their fine-spun theories into lumber, little
better than nonsense. However, like the' rest of my country-
men,
With sad civility, I read.
With honest anguish and an aching head.
To counteract the constitutionalists, the disaffected to the
revolution were invited to fall into the republican ranks ; and
there was an agreement, or at least an understanding, among
the lawyers, who were generally on the republican side, neither
to practise or accept of any office under the constitution, which,
in that case, they would be bound, by an oath, to support But
the constitutionalists had a Roland for their Oliver. They had
proihonotaryships, attorney-generalships, chief justiceships, and
what not to dispose of. Patriots have their price, 'tis said ; and
persons were found to accept of these, some of whom, indeed,
had cautiously avoided committing themselves by the promul-
gation of rash anathemas. All, however, were not so fortunate,
if fame is to be believed ; and although the fruit was to them
forbidden, they were tempted, and did eat. But in this age of
thrift and self-aggrandizement, I am not going to impute it to
them as a crime. Who would now reject the means of better-
ing his condition, through the childish fear of being charged
with a dereliction of principle ? It is not of such imbecility that
the world is now " the friend, or the world's law." Bonaparte
would never have made himself a consul, much less an emperor,
by such squeamishness.
Soon after the organization of the Republican Society, it was
proposed to me by my friend Major Scull, then in Philadelphia,
to join it ; but after the recent agitations of the greater contest
with the mother country, I felt no inclination to disturb myself
with domestic broils. My eyes, indeed, were open to the illibe-
rality of the constitutionalists, and the extreme jealousy they
already manifested against those who had been in tlie army ;
but on the other hand, so far as I can recall my feelings, I did
CONSTITUTIONALISTS AND REPUBLICANS. 383
not fully relish the policy of courting the disaffected, and those
who had played a safe and calculating game. . But they were
rewarded for it : pelf, it appeared, was a better goal than liberty;
and at no period in my recollection, was the worship of
Mammon more widely spread, more sordid and disgusting.
Those who had fought the battles of the country, at least in the
humbler grades, had as yet earned nothing but poverty and con-
tempt ; while their wiser fellow-citizens who had attended to
their interests, were the men of mark and consideration.* As
to military rank, no man seemed to be without it, who had an
inclination for it ; and the title of major was the very lowest that
a dasher of any figure would accept of. Nothing more was
wanting for its attainment than to clap on a uniform and pair
of epaulettes, and scamper about with some militia general for
a day or two. And thus, the real soldier was superseded, even
in the career of glory. Never having been good at a scramble,
as already observed, whether honour or profit were the meed, I
did not press into the field of pretension ; and being in a state of
apathy as to the political parties, I declined enlisting with either.
The agitations which now prevailed in the capital, led to the
Tvell-known outrage on Mr. Wilson, who, for the exercise of his
professional duty as a lawyer, in behalf of certain persons who
had been prosecuted for treason, had been proscribed by the
mobility. The punishment decreed for his crime, was banish-
ment to the enemy, yet in New York : and for the purpose of
inflicting it, an attack, by men in arms, was made upon his
house, into which a number of his friends had thrown them-
selves, with a determination to resist the assailants. A few lives
"Were lost before the tumult was suppressed ; but as my residence
at Reading deprived me of the means of a personal knowledge
of the transaction, it is enough for me to notice it as one of
those which shows the toleration of the vulgar heart, and the
* These aMertions are supported by sundry letters fh>in General Washington
to General Rrd, in which he reprobates, in strong langoage, the ra^re for ** money,
making speculations.** In one dated December 19th, 1778, speaking of the officers
in the army, he says, ** resignations must cease to be wonderful, when it is a fiust
- too notorious to be denied that officers cannot live in the army under present dr.
cumstances, whilst they see others enriching themseWes in an infinity of ways.
These are severe tests of public virtue, and should not in point of policy, be pushed
too^.**
334 AUTHOR OBTAINS AN APPOINTMENT.
idea it annexes, to what it is pleased to term the blessings of
liberty.
The constitution kept its ground in defiance of its adversa-
ries; and as it is sometimes easier to make a pun than to avoid
it, it may be said, that The confederates of Bar, were completely
foiled in their undertaking. They came over by degrees; and
it at length appeared, that the cobweb ties, by which, they had
vainly flattered themselves they could pinion the love of interest,
had only benefited the least scrupulous of the confederates, who
like the stronger flies, had burst their flimsy fetters, and thence,
dashed at the treacle, unannoyed by competition.
All interdiction to practice being now removed, I found it
necessary once more to open my law books. I obtained admit-
tance as an attorney in the county of Berks ; and was already
employed to bring actions and defend them; but was soon
drawn from this track by the following incident
Among a number of newly introduced maxims of republi-
canism, it was a highly favoured one in Pennsylvania, to bring
justice home to every man's door. In the spirit of this prin-
ciple, several new counties had been erected ; and in the year
of 1785, 1 had the good fortune, through the warm exertions of
an influential friend, to obtain an appointment to the Prothoao-
taryship of the county of Dauphin. By a combination of small
circumstances working together for my advantage, I obtained,
contrary to expectation, the suffrage of the Supreme Executive
Council, of which Mr. Dickinson was then President. The
Republican party possessed a majority in the Council; and
Colonel Atlee, who belonged to it, was designated for the office.
He was conspicuous as a party-man, and, if I mistake not, at
the time, a member of the Legislature ; and on the score of
services and character, no one had better claims. But upon
this occasion, the negative character of my politics, contrary
to the usual course of things, probably gave me the advantage.
To keep out Atlee, the constitutionalists were disposed to gire
their voles to any one of his competitors. Of course, I had all
their strength; and by adding to it two or three republican
votes, I acquired a greater number than any in nomination. As
the mode was to vote for the candidates individually, there was
no physical, or perhaps moral impediment, to each of thepn re-
JOHN DICKINSON. 335
ceiving the vote of every member. A promise to one, was not
broken, by voting also for another, unless it was exclusively
made. The President had, probably, given a promise to Colonel
Atlee as well as to myself; and considering me, perhaps, as too
weak to endanger his success, thought he might safely gratify
my friend, who pinned him to the vote, which, on coming to
the boXy he seemed half inclined to withhold. Or, where was
his crime, if he really thought our pretensions equal, and there-
fore determined not to decide between us? Such were the
accidents which procured my unlooked-for appointment.
Mr. Dickinson, for his want of decision, as it was called,
wad bitterly inveighed against by his party; and the next day
at the coffee-house, when receiving the congratulations of some
of my acquaintances, Mr. Michael Morgan O'Brien, who
chanced to be present, and to whom I was then introduced,
asserted it as a fact, that the President had suffered his hand to
be seized and crammed into the box with a ticket for me; "but
no matter," said he, " you are a clever fellow, I am told, and I
am glad that you have got the office." That this gentleman,
who had been a short time among us, should have been so
furious a partisan in our politics, can only be accounted for,
from his being perfectly in the O'Flaherty style, and conse-
quently a ready champion of the cause of those he was in the
habit of associating with.
In the station of President, Mr. Dickinson added not much
to his reputation, in the opinion of either of the parties. By en-
deavouring to stand well with both, he, unfortunately, pleased
neither. He had been brought in by the republicans ; and had
soon after been virulently attacked by a writer under the sig-
nature of Valerius, who was no bad imitator of the manner of
Junius. Against the charges that were urged against him, he
made his own vindication, which, even by bis political friends,
was tliought nerveless and whining. Upon the expiration of
his term of service as President of Pennsylvania, he retired to
Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, where he became a
plain Quaker, in the principles of which sect, I think, he had
been educated. But his Quakerism did not prevent his becom-
ing President of this State, as he had before been of Pennsyl-
336 JOHN DICKINSON.
vania. Neither did it, in his old age, so far withdraw him
from worldly concerns, as to restrain his pen frdm again dipping
in politics, during the progress of the French Revolution, with
the sublime virtues and benign influences of which, he appears to
have been deeply and permanently smitten : insomuch as to be
rendered so acceptable to the JefTersonians, as just before his
death, which happened in the year 1808, to be held up by them
as a candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives of
the United States. While residing in the State of Delaware,
he seems always to have been claimed by this class of politi-
cians ; and from his Fabius, which is a curious jumble of irre-
concilable, abstract contradiction, and philanthropic inconsist-
ency, he, probably, belonged to them. Like the rest of the sect,
he is for devolving the whole virus of the revolution on the
shoulders of Robespierre, and his immediate colleagues; and bat
for a few unlucky Ifs^ he is persuaded, all things would have gone
well. The unfortunate Louis, he loves with no less enthusiasm,
than he does the fanatic multitude, whose demoniac frenzy sent
him to the scaffold; and he apostrophizes the manes of the dead
monarch with as much solemnity and pathos, as if his blood
had been a banquet to the Federalists, who, it is true, are wholly
lost to the morality, which would, with Fabius, transfer the
gratitude which might have been due to the king, to those,
who, though not actually his murderers, do yet exultingly
trample upon his ashes.
Mr. Dickinson was very far from a consistent politician.
Though so little of a republican at the commencement of our
revolution as to boggle at independence, he became so out-
rageous a one in the sequel, as to be an amateur of French
liberty, and in respect to the parties in England, a Foxite* pro-
* Many, I am well aware, are partial to Mr. Fox as a stateaman. Hit abilitiei
might have been very great, but he can hardly be called a candid, principled, and
▼irtuoos citizen. If, when he became minister, he pursued the same policy that
Mr. Pitt had done, it is evident that his opposition to him proceeded from fketioof
and interested motives, under the influence of which, he acted the part of a wild
and disorganiang Jacobin. He is said to have been a pleasing companion, and
what is called a good-natured man, which is generally, by the by, an unpriociplsd j
one. Refined virtue is indignant and somewhat austere. Elstimating him, how- i
ever, from his historical fragment of the reign of James the Second, one would
•oppose him to have been a humane, just, and generous man^^CSee Appeodiz P.)
JOHN DI0KIN60N— C. J. FOX. 337
fessed.* To account for this, for certainly there is a glow of
sentiment in his writings which would promise better things,
we must have recourse to some casualties in his public career.
* The succestora of the Msn or ms Rkvolution must be grateful for what this
distioguUhed genUeman did, and not indulge in feelings of dissatisfaction for what
he omitted to do, especially as Mr. DioKiNsoif lived long enough, as maj be in.
ierred from his subsequent career, to regret the extreme moderatioir which charac
terized his proceedings at the period of the Dbclaeation. He was lik»many
men of whom we read, and who at all times abound, who are endowed with suffi-
cient sagacity to discern the right, and with aniple ability fi)r its assertion*or de-
fence, bat who, either ftom irresolution, or a desire to please all parties, are, at
the final moment, un&ithful to themselves or to great public interests committed
to their charge. It cannot be supposed that Mr. Dickinson designedly erred, or
that his motives, at any period, were either sordid or unpatriotic. He was a man
of great elevation of character and parity of conduct; but it certainly is unfortu^
nate for his reputation that he omitted the immortal act of affixing his signature
to the Dbclaeation or Indcpenoxnce. That only was wanting to place him in
the highest rank among the Revolutionary worthies to which, otherwise, his dis-
tingoished abilities would, unquestionably, have entitled him. With all his talents,
however, be lacked the great quali6catioiui essential to the perfection of the charac-
ter of a real statesman,— the promptitude, decision, and boldness which nerved the
heart and the pen of a Hxnrt and an Adams ; and be was, moreover, not thoroughly
weaned from habitual and hereditary attachment to England ; or, perhaps, not
safficienUy disinterested to stake his honour, and life, and fortune, upon an issue
that it was, assuredly, his greatest misfortune ever to have considered doubtful, or
oneaDed for, by the suicidal policy of an infatuated Ministry ; — a policy, the design
and inevitable tendency of which was, the degradation of his country, and the con-
sequent debasement of its citizens. The Declaration appears to have surprised
Bfr. Dickinson into opposition before bis mind could perceive that it was nnavoid.
able, or necessary. With the best intentions, he was, of coarse, still under the
guidance of human motives ; and it will be no very violent exercise of charity to
yield the largest allowance for the influence of early education, which inculcated
endurance, and reverence, especially for the authority and institutions of the
Falher.land, — for constitutional timidity, from which even Tullt — glorious in other
attribotes,— was not exempt; or for a predilection for a cautious, temporizing
policy which lo<^ed rather to a tardy and peaceful accomplishment of its end;
than to a prompt redress of grave and acknowledged grievances, through violence
and bloodshed. Whatever may have been the motives by which he shaped his
coarse, he is, unquestionably, entitled to the enduring gratitude of his country, —
gratitude that should not be withheld because he paused, irresolute, at that point
of time and tide, which, ** taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." He had, most
aUy and faithfully, served his country to that momentous and perilous period, and,
if he then hesitated, or declmed to take the leap, it should be remembered that the
sacrifice was by no means essential to the cause of Inokpbndbncx ; which, indeed,
was neither injured nor retarded by his indecision : while the consequences flowing
from snch indecision affected his own repatation alone. There were, moreover,
29
THE PBOTHONOTARTSHIP*
In the first place, then, from his supposed want of energy while
in the first Congress, Mr. John Adams had, in a letter inter*
cepted and published by the British, styled him, ^^a piddling
genius ;" and Mr. Adams being afterwards President of the
United States, and then thoroughly anti-Gallican, might, pos-
sibly, have contributed to place Mr. Dickinson in the opposite
ranks. Pro'bably, too, the once celebrated Pennsylvania farmer,
and writer of Congressional addresses, was not altogether
pleased at finding himself in the background, and eclipsed by
statesmen of less standing than himself, the Hamiltons, the
Ameses, &c. It is enough for those beneath the sphere of
competition to exclaim :
Let modest Fonter, if be will, excel
Ten metropoUtans in preachin gr welL
In addition to this liberty was the stock, on which the farmer's
celebrity was engrailed; and, lest the fine foliage might ''grow
into the yellow leaf," he was, perhaps, resolved to cherish, at
all events, the vigour of the parent tree ; and hence, liberty,
even to jacobinism, was among the toys of his dotage. This
is the best I can say, for a teacher of political ethics, who
(with whatever good intentions) for wisdom, gives us folly;
for virtue, '^ deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed,''
under the idea of modelling the world according to a pretty
theory.
The post I was honoured with, fully satisfied my ambition ;
it was sufl[iciently respectable, and in a few years, wholly ade-
quate to my wants. The duties it imposed, I was pretty well
acquainted with; and I exerted myself to lay such a foundation
in the office arrangements, as might support a regular super-
structure. The trust committed to me, was conscientiously
attended to, and I venture to say, not negligently executed. My
cares for a future competency, which alone had disturbed roe,
were done away by my establishment ; a new town was rising
under my eyes on the magnificent banks of the Susquebaooa ;
and though remote from the capital and obscure, I had little
left to wish for ; — a state too tranquil to be lasting.
other members of the same memonble CongresH, equally irreeolote, and witboot a
tithe of hia redeeming talents, who also suffered the ''frir oceasioa** to pass ** ftr
e?or by."— En.
OONSTITUnON OF THE TTHITED 8TATB8* 380
CHAPTER XIV.
Copttitution of the United States. — Wasbiiioton elected Preiideiit — ^Meettn||r of
Convention. — ^The Senate. — Executive Power. — Regulation of the Pren.— State
of Partiee^— Leading Characters in the Convention. — French Revolution^ —
Burke and Paine. — ^Washington's Adminbtration^^Party Dissensions* — Mr*
JimisoN.— State of Parties.
Being now about to enter upon political discussions, I deem
it due to those enthusiastically republican readers, who think we
can never sufficiently praise ourselves, to tell them to stop here ;
if, from some unlucky notices I may have given, they have not
already anticipated me. I am truly sorry that my convictions
will not permit me to trace events in the usual strain of panegy-
ric ; but I am compelled, in the style of a grumbler, to say, that
the patriotism, which had been calculated upon to bear us out
with little or no aid from authority, and, which, in the opinion of
many, was still in full vigour, was, to the eyes of all sober men,
wholly inadequate to the demands which were made upon it
It had the knack, indeed of evading the most important of
them, by representing them as spurious ; and this was chiefly
done, by restricting patriotic duties to the limits of a State*
The country of a demagogue is the precise sphere of his in-
fluence; and making common cause on this principle, they
were every where deaf as adders to the claims of a general
interest. The articles of Confederation, receiving cement from
the sense of common danger, which prevailed during the war,
had occasionally afforded faint marks of continental impression ;
but as soon as the fear of subjugation was removed, they were
no better than a rope of sand ; and the general sovereignty was
a very unequal match for the thirteen individual ones. The
voice of the United States, was, as it had been observed, but
340 CONSTITUTION OF THB UNITED STATES.
the drone of the bag-pipes. Its buz was heard, but it contributed
not at all to the modulation of the music. It could recommend,
but not enforce a measure ; and hence, the imposition of cer-
tain internal taxes, and a duty of five per centum on imported
articles, essential to the discharge of the public debt and the
fulfilment of a stipulation in the treaty of peace, could never be
accomplished. The refractory States were not to be moved by
considerations of national justice or character ; and they were
equally regardless of the consequences of a dissolution of the
Union.
To rescue the country from the impending anarchy and ruin,
the influence of General Washington was called for, and again
exerted for its salvation. Nothing less than the weight of his
name could have induced the adoption of the new federal con-
stitution, which had been framed under his auspices ; and it
had become very doubtful, whether the anxious struggle for
independence had not been in vain, and the anticipated blessing
of self-government, would not be frustrated in its very dawn.
The interests opposed to an eflScient union of the States, were
truly formidable, as well from the conviction of the popular
I leaders that it would lessen, if not annihilate their importance,
as from the too contracted notions of the people at large, and
I their inability to comprehend the necessity of a general con-
trolling authority. The battle was hard fought on both sides.
To the manly sense and patriotic eloquence of the one, was
opposed the trite, but seductive cant of sedition and faction.
The refined and irresistible reasoning of Publius, the signature
to a series of essays chiefly written by Colonel Hamilton, was
assailed by incessant volleys of words of dire import, such as
monarchy, aristocracy, monopoly, and consolidation.* But the
* Whatever frantic and nnserupulooB demagn^oea may chooae to aasert to the
I contrary, it b matter of history, which, however, it is not always convenient er
I even poBsibU for them to cooault, — ^that Hamilton ^ve to the new Conatitotictt,
I after its adoption, a cordial and manly support That he had, previously, ddibe-
rately formed, and onreservedly expressed, opinions, which no man poisBssed ef
decent intelligence, or a spark of generosity, will deny were konuUy entertained,
•^adverse to some of its provisions, — matters concerning which, wise and virtnoos
and patriotic men might well diftisr, and abont which they anqueetlooaUy did
' differ,— is also troe; and there were Iften, as there are nets, few men living so wel
entiUed, hy deep stndy, and enlightened reflection, to hold, and to promnlgals
CONSTITUTION OF TBB UNITSD 8TATB8* 841
last beiDg the lucky hit, from which most immediate efiect was
anticipated, it was most unmercifully hackneyed in the service.
The Constitution was represented to be a consolidation, not a
ori^uial views upon thia or other grave national intereata, aa ALKXAimsa Hamilton;
who, of all the stateamen of the period, or of later time, ranks next to Washinoton,
and whose name and memory, second only to his, should be fondly cheriahed as a
proud, national inheritance ; for it has rarely happened that
** to those mansiona where the mighty rest
Since their firandation came a noUer guest"
The Life of Pathos Hsnbt, written by a disciple of Thomas Jimaaoir, him.
self a profe99ed admirer, at least, of the '* Forest-bom Demosthenes,** and who
ftirniihed materials for his biography: — informs us that the celebrated orator,
whose patriotism and wisdom the revilers of Hamilton, — ^between whom and Hmar
tfwre was, on this subject, a perfect coincidence of opinion,~never think of ques-
tioning, opposed with all the power and influence of his surpassing eloquence, the
adoption of this same Constitution. We learn also from unquestionable authority,
that t^ia Constitution as finally adopted in Convention, was the result of wise and
patriotic conciliation and compromise on the part of all its members. WashinotoiTi
as is well known, was President of this Convention, and even he has been charged
with hostility to the work it accomplished. In the letter addressed by him in his
official capacity, to the President of Congress, enclosing the result of the anzioualy
patriotic labours of the enlightened body over which he had presided, — this passage
occurs, and should be deeply impressed on the hearts and memories of present and
future statesmen and legislators :
**The Constitution which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and
of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political
situation rendered indispensable.*'
Wa8hii«oton*s opinion expressed on another occasion, as we learn from Sparks*
life, p. 403 ;— was, '* Nor am I yet such an enthusiastic, partial, or indiscriminat-
ing admirer of it, as not to perceive that it is tinctured with some real though not
radical defects."
FsANKLiif said, ** I consent to the Constitution because I expect no better, and
becaore I am sure it is not bad.**
And Madison, in the 57th number of the ** Feoualist,** a neglected volume
which all honest ** Democrats,** not easily frightened by a name, would be wiser
for perusing, says : —
" It was acceded to by a deep conviction of the necessity of sacrificing private
opinion and partial interests to the public good, and by a despair of seeing this ne-
osssity diminished by delays or by new experiments.**
The last number of the Federaliit, written by Hamilton, proves the coificidenfle
of opinion between him and the illustrious men thus cited. He says —
**Tbe system, though it may not be perfect in every part, is, upon the whole, a
good one ; is the best that the present views and circumstances will permit, and is
such an one as promises tvery species of security, which a reasonable people can
desire.'* — Ed.
29*
842 CONSTITUTION OF THB UNITED STATES.
confederation of the States ; and under this ^rewd idea, its
adversaries very ingeniously endeavoured to ward off the im-
putation of anti-federalism, now becoming odious. They con-
tended, that they were, in fact, the federalists, as the self-styled
federalists, were consolidators, aristocrats, and monarchists.
Luckily, at this time, there were no French imperialists, or
promoters of universal despotism; or, without doubt, they
would have been these too. But the tribunitial arts of the m du
sanies federal men, were all in vain. Some dire infatuation,
according to them, had seized upon the people ; and to perdi-
tion they must go, since their best friends were no longer lis-
tened to. The grand processions of trades and occupations
which were exhibited at Boston, New York, and Philadelphia ;
the hint of which, was, probably, taken from the shows of Ta-
merlane at Samarcand, * had completely federalized the popu-
lace of these capitals, and given an eclat to the business else-
where, that could not be resisted. Under the <' curses" therefore
" not loud but deep," of its enemies, the measure was sullenly
acquiesced in ; and the Constitution gradually ratified by the
States. By this event, the constitviional party of Pennsylvania,
was laid at the feet of the RepublicanSf who now triumphing
under the appellation of federalists, overwhelmed their adver-
saries with the short-lived odium of anti-federalism.
But the reputation of Washington which had carried the new
system, was no less necessary to give efficacy to its operations,
than it had been to originate it, and obtain its ratification ; and
as he could not but be aware of this, he consented from a sense
of duty, but without a particle of that " sweet, reluctant, amo-
rous delay" with which more ethereal patriots sometimes yield
to the wishes of the people, to be a candidate for the presidency.
As the disapprovers of the Constitution, knew that their oppo-
sition to his election would be unavailing, they gave none, but
contented themselves with taunts and dismal forebodings. Ge-
neral Washington was then elected ;t and I mention it as a
* **The public joj wu testified by illummatioiu and maigoewdeii ; the tndet
of Sunarcuid paned in review ; and every trade was emoloue to eieoala aone
qoaint device, aoone marveUom pageant, with the materials of their peculiar ait**
-—CHhbon't Decline and Fall, Harper*e Edit,, voL iv. p. 383.-— En.
t He thus 'wrote in his Diary, on the day of his departure, two days after re.
ELBOTION OF WABBINOTON. 848
proof of my decided conduct in the controversy, that my coun-
try did me the honour to appoint me one of his electors. Had
not my persuasion of the pressing importance of the measure
forbade my being passive, it would have been scarcely possible
to have remained so. From an idea that those holding offices
under the State, would feel it their interest to oppose a system
which circumscribed the authority from which they derived
them, and might, thence, disturb the enjoyment of them, or even
render them nugatory, they were confidently appealed to by the
anti-federalists, as the natural enemies of the constitution:
while, on the other hand, persons who had been in the army,
were counted upon by the federalists, as likely to promote a
scheme, in which the late Commander-in-chief, had taken so
warm a part But I did not wait to be solicited by the parties ;
neither did I poise their relative strength, or listen, for a mo-
ment, to the narrow dictates of self-interest I am happy in
being able to say, that I was an early, undisguised, ardent,
active, and, in my sphere, conspicuous partisan of the Constitu-
tion ; of course, a mark for the vengeance of the professional
wielders of the people, who felt the potency of their incanta-
tions most cruelly impaired by its adoption. The discomfiture
being complete, they made a virtue of necessity ; and not long
after, yielded with a tolerably good grace, to the call of a con-
vention for altering the constitution of the State, so as to render
it more conformable to that of the United States. They consi-
dered this, and wisely, as a means of recovering their lost con-
sequence ; and exerting themselves at the elections for members
of this convention, they contrived to take the field, with a force
not very inferior to that of their adversaries.
This body has been considered respectable for abilities : and
among the men of note who were delegated to it, may be found
ceiTin^ Itom Congrews^ through its ipecial messenger, Charles Thomson, notifica-
tion of his election :
** About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Moont Vernon, to private life, and to do-
meatic ielicitj ; and, with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painAil sensa.
tions than I have words to express, set oat for New York, in company with Mr.
TaoMsoif and Colonel Humphreys, with the best disposition to render senrioe to
my coontry in obedience to its call, bat with less hope of answering its ezpecta.
344 MEBTINO OF CONVENTION.
the names of MiffliD, M'Kean, Wilson, Lewis, Ross, Addison,
Sitgreaves, Pickering, Gallatin, Smilie, Findley, and Snyder. I
had myself the equivocal honour of being a yea and nay mem*
ber ; but having been elected in the room of one who died, I did
not take my seat, until some progress had been made in the
business. The point which had excited most interest, and was
thence the subject of the warmest controversy, was now upoa
the carpet This was the construction of the senate, or upper
house, (as it is sometimes called,) of the legislature. A com-
mittee, selected for the purpose, had reported an outline of the
constitution ; and that part of the report which recommeoded
the choosing of senators through the medium of electors, was
under discussion. Mr. Wilson took the lead in opposition to
the report ; Mr. Lewis in support of it. It was urged by the
latter and his co*operators, that the senate should be so consti-
tuted as to form a check upon the house of representatives ; and,
as in the proposed mode of creating it through the alembic of
electors, it would be purged of the impurities of an immediate
election by the people, the desideratum would be obtained ;—
that being chosen by a selected few, it was presumable, it would
be more wise, more respectable, and more composed of men of
wealth, than if chosen by the multitude; and hence it was in-
ferred that it would partake, in no inconsiderable degree, of the
proper qualities of an upper house — of a house of lords, it
might have been said if the idea had been endurable. As to
Mr. Wilson's scheme, (for he had moved a substitute,) of
choosing the senators in the same manner as the representatives,
with the exception only of larger election districts, it was repro-
bated as doing away every purpose of a divided legislature—
since that the persons composing the two houses, would be pre-
cisely of the same character, and too homogeneous to operate
as correctives of each other ; and that unless the elector-sys-
tem should be adopted, the convention had been called in vain.
Wilson, in defence of his plan, was for resting the chance of
the two bodies being sufficient checks upon each other, upon
the circumstances of their different spheres of election; of their
sitting in different chambers, which would produce, he con-
tended, an esprit du corps in each ; and their being chosen for
CXINSTITUnOH OF THB SENATE. 345
diflferent periods, the representatives for one year, the senators
for four years. He moreover urged, that electors would open a
door to unfair practice and intrigue ; that the senators should
be as much favourites of the people as the representatives, and
be inspired with equal confidence, by equally feeling themselves
their choice.
As the debate seemed to turn upon the idea, that this was
a contest between the principles of democracy and aristocracy,
and that great advantages would be gained to either that might
prevail, a considerable degree of heat was engendered ; and
Wilson, hitherto deemed an aristocrat, a monarchist, and a des-
pot, as all the federalists were, found his adherents on this occa-
sion, with a few exceptions, on the democratic or anti-federal
side of the house. In the list of exceptions, I was ; but not so
much from the arguments adduced, though appearing to me both
ingenious and sound, as from my conviction of its being wholly
immateriaU so far as a check was contemplated, whether the
senate was brought together through the intervention of electors
or not ; and I was, of course, adverse to a measure, at once,
circuitous, useless, and unpopular. As it was my practice to
commit my thoughts to paper, upon questions which underwent
discussion, I have the following note of this.
^ The desire of choosing senators through the medium of
electors, is certainly founded on a fallacious idea : for, admitting
that a small number of dispassionate, sensible men, would make
a better choice than the people at large, is it possible that the
advocates for the measure can be so blinded by prejudice as not
to see, that it is not the most dispassionate and intelligent men
that will be sought for as electors, but the most devoted tools of
party ; and that the prevailing party, in the district, will always
make the senator ? To suppose the contrary, or that any one,
when parties run high, (and when do they not t) would be voted
for as an elector, merely from a reliance on his wisdom and
integrity, without a knowledge of his sentiments, is to suppose
a political miracle, and to forget that ever party spirit existed.
Let it not be said that the object is to get a good man of what-
ever party. This is contrary to all party policy and practice,
which, if it cannot succeed in procuring the election of its own
346 author's opinions.
members, prefers the weakest and most contemptible of the
other side, as being less capable of doing mischief. The respec-
tability of the Maryland Senate, which has been so often
instanced in the debate, proves nothing to the purpose. If it is
a respectable body, and of superior wisdom to the other house,
it is not because it is chosen by electors. It miist be owing to
the more enlightened persons who compose it, reserving them-
selves for it, and having sufficient interest with the people to
secure their seats ; which interest would be the same without
the intervention of electors ; and if the State of Maryland shall
have a wiser and higher toned Senate than Pennsylvania, it
must be attributed to the more aristocratical state of society
there, which furnishes them with more suitable materials, and
gives the men of wealth and information a superior degree of
influence."
Thus far the note, the observations in which seem fully jusli*
fied by events. Let us consider the objects which regulate the
choice of electors of a President and Vice-President, and then
say, whether the Senate would have been bettered by the elector
scheme. I myself was once chosen an elector, but it was be^
cause my voice was known to be for Washington, not person-
ally on my own account.
' As another mean to improve the upper house,* a proposition
was brought forward by the friends to the elector plan, to
apportion the senators by means of a ratio compounded of
wealth and numbers ; the intention of which was, to give greater
security to property, by increasing the weight of the wealthy
districts, beyond what they would derive from population alone.
After reprobating the idea of introducing so invidious and
sordid a principle into the government, and remarking that it
could not answer its purpose, unless this increased representa-
tion was under the sole guidance of the rich, who are rarely
oppressed by the poor, my note goes on to say : — " Whatever
advantages may, for a time, be given to the poor, by a state of
turbulence and confusion, as soon as order is restored, the pre-
* A protert b again entered against Uie phnwe. When win the good tenie of
a republican people dlacard the aenaelew designation !— £a
EXEcxrrivB foweb* 347
dominance of wealth immediately returns. It seems unneces-
sary to protect local wealth. It is not probable, that the local
distinctions now prevailing will continue, but rather that
wealthy individuals will make common cause." A scheme
of the same kind as this compound ratio, was adopted by the
National Assembly of France ; speaking of which, I find Mr.
Burke has this remark, with which part of mine exactly coin-
cides. " If any favour," says he, *< was meant to the rich, the
privilege ought to have been conferred on the individual rich,
or of some class formed of rich persons ; because the contest
between rich and poor, is not a struggle between corporation
and corporation, but a contest between men and men ; a com-
petition, not between districts, but between descriptions."
I aim at no triumph by these remarks, and am not so un-
candid as not to own, that before being led to examine it, I was
as much seduced by the plausibility of the ebctor scheme as any
one. I was at first induced to oppose it in the case of the
Senate, in the view of applying it in the choice of a chief magis-
trate, under an idea, that it might at least have the wholesome
effect of mitigating the fury of a general election in a matter
of so great interest, by putting the object a little out of sight ;
bat I now doubt whether it would be productive even of this
good.
The animated discussions which had taken place in the Con-
vention, on the formation of the Senate, had produced no incon-
siderable degree of ill-humour among the members of that body,
and more especially, as is usual, among the losers. For my
own part, I was considered by them as an apostate from my
principles ; as a deserter of the federal standard ; and at tables,
where I occasionally fell in with my federal acquaintance, was
treated by them with much unpleasant coldness and neglect.
As, however, I had acted honestly, from the best lights my un-
derstanding afforded, I was not to be browbeaten into a retrac-
tion of the sentiments I had uttered ; and was as confident in
my opinions, as they could be in theirs ; in which, I presume,
I have been justified by events.
As to the executive power, the structure, as it now stands,
appeared to have been reared before I became a member of the
348 EXECDTIVB POWER*
Convention. It would seem, that it had been agreed upon, and
reported by a committee of nine members, who had been
selected for the purpose of framing and methodizing the out*
lines of the constitution. At any rate, no essential opposition
was made to this article, which, in my opinion, is the most ex*
ceptionable of any in the instrument. The following note con-
tains the chief ground of my objection to it, viz. : *• When I
consider the strong temptation to the couiling of popular favour,
held out by the governor's re-eligibility at the end of three
years, I am induced to condemn the section, and to prefer
electing him for a certain period, say four, five, six, seven, or
so many years as might be deemed safe and expedient ; at the
end of which term, either a perpetual or very long exclusion to
take place. An exclusion, long enough to wear out the influence
acquired whilst in office, and to make a re-election a too re-
mote and uncertain contingency, to be worth improper sacri-
fices and compliances.* The rotation founded on a short
exclusion, appears to be inadequate to its object, and to have
little other efiect, than to compel us to part with a chief magis-
trate, however patriotic his conduct, or pressing the exigence.
To it, I would prefer an uninterrupted re-eligibility." This
idea I communicated to several of the leading members of the
Convention, but do not recollect, that any of them seemed much
impressed with its importance. Mr. Lewis, indeed, did not
seem to think unfavourably of it; but had been so much hart
with losing the electors, that he seemed to despair of redeeming
the loss, by the substitution of any other good, and therefore
declined attempting any alteration in the article : and having
too little confidence in myself to undertake a change in it, with-
out able support, I suffered it to pass without publicly testifying
my disapprobation of it What made the general acquiescence
in it more remarkable, was, that it was thought necessary to
remedy the evil arising from the annual election of sheriA,
who, it was observed, were too intent on preserving the good
will of their constituents, to do their duty to eflfect, until their
* I WM not aware, until rery lately, tliat General Lee uses precudy the i
naaoning in a letter dated July S9th, 1776, to Patrick Henry, jon^ Gofemorof
Virginia.
REOULATIOH OF THE PRESS. 340
ultimate term of service was secured. Perhaps it was deemed
a kind of profanatioo of the high function of chief magistrate,
to suppose that any considerations of this sort could warp the
manly march of him, who might have the honour to be invested
with it But, whatever force there may be in the foregoing
sentiments, candour compels me to own, that at this moment, I
am much less tenacious of them than I have been. Were the
Governor's the only station to be sought for, the reasoning
might be conclusive; but there are so many other temptations
to a man smitten with a love of the public coffers, of influence
and power, that it amounts to much less than I once supposed.
Indeed, the best, and perhaps only security, for a firm and up-
right administration, is to be found, in innate dignity of mind.
And the more we contemplate the construction of a popular
form of government, the more shall we be convinced, that no
checks are competent to master corruption, or supply the want
of integrity ; and that after all the jargon about anti-republican
tendencies, no tendency, can be republican unless it be virtuous.
Next to the construction of the senate, the regulation of the
press was the ground of most acrimony in the Convention.
Whether or not the truth should be received as a justification,
on prosecutions for libels, divided its law characters. I was
among the simple voters who thought that it ought ; and although
now absolved from my sin, by federal opinion,* I was then sub-
jected to the imputation of wild innovation and democracy. I
could say a great deal more of what was done in this assembly,
and produce a world of political reasoning, vastly edifying and
profound ; but enough, in all conscience, of the business of con-
stitution making ! Could we have made the people wise, mode-
rate, disinterested, we should have laboured to some purpose ;
but, where they are under no dominion but that of their selfish
passions, hurrying them on to a goal, regardless of conse-
* Declared in Uie Sedition Law, and in the defences to the proaeciitions nnder
the reign of Jcftbeson. It ia alao, if I am not mistaken, now the doctrine and law
of libels in England, as introduced by Mr. Fox, and ooncnrred in by Mr. Pitt.
And Hamilton's definition of the Liberty of the Press is,—** the right of pab-
lishing the tmth with good moti?es, and toan useful end, whether it ineolpates the
foveminent, the magistrates, or prifate individuals.**
350 STATE OF PARTIES.
quences, of what use are all the constitutions that have been
made by the friends to liberty^ in America or France? They
want an essential ingredient of all laws. They may be just in
their sanctions, wise and honest in their injunctions ; but where
are their enforcing and prohibitory powers T As they are, I am
sick of them. With all their seeming beauties, they contain a
latent flaw ; and I am ahnost tempted to reject the flattering
theory of our institutions, as Bajazet does the Paradise of
Mahomet
Prophet, take notice, I dudaim thy paradiee,
Thj fira^ant bowers and everlasting shades;
Thoa hast placed woman there, and all thy joys are tainted.
If woman spoils the one, so does selfish man the other.
The sitting of this assembly for new-modelling the constitu-
tion, had the eflect that had been anticipated by the anti-federal-
ists. It enabled them to discharge a great portion of the odium
with which they had been loaded by their recent discomfiture;
and although they had been completely laid upon their backs, it
was evident that from this position they had already turned
upon their sides, and were in a fair way of being very soon on
top of their antagonists. Such are the advantages of a steady,
undeviating, profligate pursuit of power, over a regard for the
public good, desultorily exerted without concert or systen) ! A
panic terror of the power of the union under the new constitu-
tion, prevailed in the Convention ; and some, who were not
infected with it, acted as if they were, for the purpose of morti-
fying Wilson, who had spoiled their favourite scheme. The
bugbear of consolidation stalked hideously among us, to the dis-
may of many federalists, no less than of the anti-federalists;
and, at no small expense of the cogitative powers, many inge-
nious devices were framed to resist his encroachments. A
balance was anxiously sought where none could be obtained ;
for where two parties only fight, one must prove the strongest.
By means of a third, indeed, the weaker adversary may be put
upon a par with the stronger, as the House of Lords, in the
British constitution, is supposed to hold the balance between the
King and the Commons ; or as either one of the three may do
it between the other two. But with respect to any imagined
STATE OF PARTIES. 351
hostility between the General Grovernment and those of the par-
ticular States, if it exists, it must take its course ; there seems to
be no control. The former will be potent when administered
by men who have no scruples in regard to means ; but weak as
the old confederation when in the hands of the principled and
conscientious. The power of the country, under her existing
establishments, will be wielded by the turbulent and most
daring ;* and if these, by any chance, should be thrown from
the greater wheel, they will immediately avail themselves of in-
herent ji^alousies to get possession of the smaller ones, by an
unprincipled use of which they will still find means to keep the
ascendant. When the federalists held the helm of the General
Gk>vemment, there was an incessant jarring between that and
the State authorities, then managed by their adversaries ; and
were the former as little restrained by a concern for the public
good as the latter, they would have played the same game
against Mr. Jeiierson and his sect ; instead of which, since their
accession to national rule, they have been suffered to proceed
without the smallest annoyance, in a part in which they were
obviously most vulnerable ; and in which, if their own malig-
nant, Catilinarian spirit had prevailed among the federalists,
they would most assuredly have been assailed. Nor let it be
said, that they had not this in their power, after the actual war-
measures of Governor Snyder against President Madison. If
ever sincere men shall again acquire the stations they ought to
possess, then again shall we be stunned by the brawlings of
anti-federal discord. The edifying unity of democracy will no
longer be marred by a division into schools, nor will the Binnses
and Duanes turn their arms upon each other.
The Convention, it has been observed, was deemed respecta-
ble for ability ; and upon a comparison with the materials of
our State legislatures, it no doubt was. It had a good many
* The language here ■nggested by ezperienoe, is aubetantially the same u that
quoted firom the Cinna of Corneille, by Mr. Shepherd, in his Paria of 1802 :
Mais quand le penple est maltre, on n*agit qn'on tamulte,
La Toiz de la raison jamais ne se consulte ;
Lea honneurs soul reodos auz plus ambitieox,
L'antoriitf livreA anz plus seditieoz.
352 LEADING CHARACTERS IN CONVENTION.
speakers in it; but, that an aptitude to prate is no conclu-
sive evidence of sound judgment, is an observation as old, at
least, as Sallust The most able debaters in the body, were
Wilson* and Lewis.t Ross,;^ Addison,^ Sitgreaves,|| and Gal-
* The Honourable Jamks Wilson. He wai bom in Scotland, in 1742. He
waa educated at Glasgow, St Andrews, and Edinburgh. He arrived in Pfaili-
delphia, in 1766, and found employment as a tutor in the college and actdemy,
and early acquired a high reputation as a classical scholar. He commenood the
study of law, in the office of John Dickinson, and commenced its practice at the
expiration of two years, first at Reading, and then at Carlisle. In 1775 he was
elected to Congress. He was a uniibrm advocate of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, which he signed. In 1787, he was a member of the Convention which
framed the Federal Constitution. In 1789, he was appointed by WAseiwrRMi, i
judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. He died in August, 1798, it
the age of fifty-six years. His political and legal disquisitions are extant in three
volumes, and much esteemed. — Ency, iimer.— En.
t Mr. Lkwis became, subsequently, a prominent member of the Philadelphia
Bar, distinguished alike for his talents and eccentricities. — ^Eo.
X The Honourable Jamks Ross. He still resides (1846) at PitUbnrg, venenUe
for his years, his virtues, and public services. He acted a very conspicuous pert
in the politics of Pennsylvania, from the dose of the Revolution until the year
1808. He was the candidate for the office of Governor in opposition to Jodqb
McKxAN, in 1799, and in 1802; and was again a candidate, in opposition to
Simon Sntdu, in 1808. He was, for many years, the acknowledged head of the
Bar in Allegheny county .~Ed.
i Judge Alkxandse Addison. He was a man of strong and cultivated nind;
a distinguished jurist, and an able theologian. He was the author of a vdanie
of ** ReporU of Cases in the County CourU of the Fifth Circuit, and in the High
Court of Errors and Appeals of the State of Pennsylvania.'* — Eo.
II Samozl SrroaKAVKS was an eminent jurist, an upright and virtuous citiseo.
He was bom in Philadelphia, on the 16th day of March, 1764, where he received
an excellent education, and where, in 1784, under the auspices of the late ra>
spectable Wiluam Rawlk, he was admitted to the Bar. In 1785, he removed to
Easton, in Pennsylvania, where he entered upon the practice of his profeaiiflo.
In 1794, he was elected to Congress, where he served with usefolness and dis-
tinction. He also particularly distinguished himself as one of the Commtssiooen
to England,— while the United States were worthily represented by the HoDounUe
Rupus Kino,— for the settlement of claims under the Treaty of 1783. During bis
sojourn abroad, he visited the Continent, and was at Paris when Napoixor wis
invested with the office and honours of the First Consulship. Hsving accomplished
the object of his mission, he returned from Europe in 1801, immediately after the
inauguration of Mr. JsppcasoN ; and from that event, may be dated the retirement
of Mr. SiToaBAYSs from public lifo. It could hardly, indeed, be expected that the
third President could find befitting employment for an ardent admirer of the first,
for one who felt a pride in being known as a WASitiNOTOiriAN Rbivsucan. On
iu organization, in 1814, Mr. SiToaiAvis was elected President of the Easton
LBADINO CHARACTSaS IN OONVENTION. 353
latin,* were comparatively youDg statesmen ; though each of
the three first, acquitted himself handsomely ; the last did not
venture beyond an isolated observation. It was singular, by
the bye, and honourable to the liberality of our country, to hear
a French accent intermingling with our own, on a question for
framing a Constitution for Pennsylvania. It was realizing the
Bamk, in which office he continued to the time of his decease, in the eizty-fbnrth
year of hie age, — on the 4th day of April, 1827. Mr. Sitgeiayis was moch
diatinguished for hia companionable qualities, for pungent wit, and keen repartee.
He was a gentleman of the old school, of which fow remain in advantageous con*
trast to the multitude of the iwio, and he well maintained the dignity of his order
in the prominent social position to which his learning, abilities, and yirtues emi-
nenUy entitled him. — Eh>.
* AuKET Gallatin was bom in Genera, Switzerland, in 1761, and was edu^
cated at the UniTersity of that city. For many years he was a resident of Penn-
sylTsnia. He arrived at Boston, in 1780. He opposed the adoption of the Federal
Constitution, a proceeding obnoxious to Democratic censure in the case of Hamil-
TOff, but in that of Gallatin, a venial offence. In 1793 Mr. Gallatin was elected
by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to the Senate of the Union, ** although," as it
was said, " he entertained doubts of hb own eligibility.** When he took his seat,
the question of citizenship was revived, and he lost it, ** after an ehLborate investi.
gation and report, on the ground that he had not been nine years a legally natu-
ralized citizen of the United States.'* He was, however, subsequently elected to
Congress, where he continued for six years, distinguished for his financial abilities,
and as one of the leaders of the Democratic party. In 1801 he received firom Mr.
JspmeoN the appointment of Secretary of the Treasury, which office he filled,
with distinguished ability, until the year 1813. He was one of the Commissioners
at Ghknt, and was subsequently appointed Minister to the Court of Feanob,
whence he returned in 1823. After a short interval spent in retirement at
his residence, Now*Geneva, he was, in 1826, aj^inted Minister to Enolano.
On his return he retired to Baltimore, but soon removed to New York, where
he still resides (1846). His last appearance in public life, was as a member
of the Free Trade Convention, which assembled at Philadelphia, in 1831, and
of which respectable and able body, it was intended to propose him for President;
but, anticipating the movement, he rose and nominated for that office, Mr. F. P.
BAEBOun of Virginia, who had, for a single session, occupied the post of Speaker of
the House of National Representatives. Mr. Barbour was elected. In this Con-
vention Mr. Gallatin attracted much attention. His foreign accent, which was
remarkable considering his long residence in the country, the character of his em»
ployments and associations, — ^rendered it extremely difficult to comprehend his
speech, but, he was, nevertheless, considered an oracle by the members, — many
of whom — ^their impracticable object to the contrary notwithstanding, — were
men of high character and distinction in public life,— and when he rose to address
the Convention, which was seldom, he was closely surrounded by an eager and
attentive auditory.— En.
30*
354 LEADING CHARACTERS IN CONVENTION.
nihU humani alienum puto of Terence. May we never have
reason to repent our extreme complacency to human race—
oratory, whether declaiming on man's equality, or the freedom
of the seas ! Wilson was truly great ; but, enthusiastically
democratic. The symptoms of returning reason, evinced in
the adoption of the Federal Constitution, had, probably, put
him in good humour with the people, and made him more
than ever in love with " free and independent man.'* He drew,
to be sure, a picture of a free citizen, in the act of disposing of his
suflfrage, little answerable to the sad realities, which are found
upon an election ground. Royalty, with its most splendid re-
galia, was made to hide its diminished head. Nevertheless, it
was a pretty fiction ; and I will not deny, that I did not listen to
it, with, perhaps, somewhat more than a demi-conviction. Cet
pauvres Savoyards sont si bonnes gens I as Jean Jacques says.
And who could say less of the good souls of Pennsylvania?
There was something singular in Wilson's mode of arriving
at his goal. It was different at least from that which I should
have taken; and he appeared studious to avoid the beaten road.
Still, he never failed to throw the strongest lights on his sub-
ject, and thence, rather to flash than elicit conviction, syllogisti-
cally. It has been said, that he required preparation. At any
rate, he produced greater orations than any other man I have
heard; and I doubt much whether the ablest of those who
sneer at his occasional simplicities and "brilliant conceits,'^
would not have found him a truly formidable antagonist
Mr. Lewis furnishes an instance of what may be done by
fortitude and perseverance, in a pursuit to which the mind has
a bias. With nothing more than the common attaiimients of a
country school, he took the resolution to make himself a lawyer;
and quitting agricultural employments, he applied himself for a
year or two to the acquisition of Latin ; after which, he com-
menced his jurisprudential studies in the office of Mr. Nicholas
Wain, then in the first practice in Philadelphia. His n5ind ap-
peared to be wholly occupied by his business; and he gave
every difficulty which occurred a thorough investigation. In a
word, his success was complete ; and from the first degree of
eminence at the Bar, he had been called upon to serve his coun-
LfiADINO CHABACTEaS IN CONVENTION. 355
try in the Legislature, and now in the Convention. He was not,
however, with the sage of Monticello, for confining all virtue
to the labouring orders ; though, from his early habits in life,
probably well acquainted with them. Well knowing, that the
morality of a gentleman, was at least upon a par with that of
a tiller of the earth ; that Don Quixote (supposed a natural
character) had more honour, though less cunning than his
squire, (a natural character too) ; and that city vices are amply
matched by rustic rogueries; he seemed without a chosen
people ; and, upon this occasion, was the advocate of what was
called the aristocracy. But though keen and fertile in re-
sources, he was, both from education and the bent of his stu-
dies, destitute of the comprehensive means possessed by Wil-
son, who was a Scotchman and a scholar, and had peculiarly
devoted himself to the researches which afford materials for
the construction of republican institutions; and which, in his
hands would have been absolutely perfect, but for one unlucky
thing, which seems to have eluded his calculations — this was,
that political data do not admit of mathematical results.* Mr.
Pickering was not an idle member.f His aims were honoura-
* Madamk ds Stabl is of a different opinion. She sayt, referring^ to M. de
Condorcefs Essay on Probabilities, that the nnmber of divorces, thefts, and mur*
ders, that will be committed in a country where the population and the reli^ons
and political situation remain the same, may be calculated with as much precision
as the births and deaths ; and hence, she infers, when the science of politics shall
have arrived at her fiivonred perfectibility, it may be submitted to the evidence of
mathematical conclusions.
t Cou>NXL Timothy Pickkrino. — He was sent by Washington, in 1787, as a
Commissioner to organize the County of Luzerne, and to reconcile the minds of
the Wyoming^ setUers to the new jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. He took up his
abode in the valley, near Wilkesbarre, in the furtherance of these objects. He was
bom in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1745, and was graduated at Harvard College, in
1763; and, after the necessary preparation, was admitted to the practice of the law.
He was in the public service from the commencement of the Revolution, almost to
the close of his long and illustrious life, filling various elevated and responsible
stations with great ability and unquestionable integrity. He was highly esteemed
by General Washington, and heartily disliked by Mr. Jefferson, circumstances
which entitle him, in advance, to the respect of his countrymen. He served faith,
folly and with distinction during the war, and was at the batUes of Brandywine
and Germantown. He succeeded General Greene in the office of Quartermaster-
General, in which he greaUy ** contributed to the surrender of Cornwalus at Yorlu
356 LEADING CHARACTERS IN CONVENTION.
ble and patriotic as those he has since pursued ; and his sug-
gestions were the emanations of right reason and experience.
General Mifflin sometimes spoke to questions of order, but
nothing more : and as to Chief Justice M'Kean, I shall only
say, that his conduct gave no token of the zeal he not long
afterwards displayed in the democratic career. But, as it is
the people who make governors. Eh! que faire Mons. Pel-
tier? — what the deuce is an eager candidate to do? For least
of all men, can he say with Fontaine, in his tale of Joconde:
Ce n'est pu moo metier de cajoler penonne.
As to those great occidental luminaries, Messrs. Sjolie* and
FiNDLAT,t their conduct upon this occasion, was truly in cha-
racter ; ever tremblingly alive to the soveranity of the people.
Nor, have their labours in the good cause been less exemplary
than their zeal; since, if we except a slight eclipse of a few digits
through the obtrusion of Washington with his Federal Consti-
tution and Federal exercises, they have been constantly glaring,
full-orbed, in the political firmament ; and we are certainly in-
debted for their uninterrupted public services, from the com-
mencement of our independence to the present hour. Nor
shall I risk lessening the merit of their perseverance, by inquir-
ing how much of the public money they might have pocketed
in all that time ; or whether any other trade they could have
town.** In 1791 he waa made Postmaater General. In 1794, Seeretarj oT War.
In 1795, Secretary of State, from which office he waa removed, in 1801, by Pkeai.
dent Adamb, and he retnmed to Maaaacbnaetta. In 1803, be was chosen by the
Legislature of that State, a Senator in Congress, for an onexpired term, and again
in 1805. In 1811, he was chosen by the Legislature a member of the Ezeentife
Council of Massachusetts : and, during the Madisonian war, was a member of the
Board of War fat the defence of the Stete. In 1814, he was elected to CoogreM,
where be continued until 1817, when he retired finally to prirate life. He died
in January, 1839, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. ** In private he was a
model of republican simplicity — was mild, courteous, and unassuming. In public
he was able, energetic, brave, and disinterested.** — Ed.
* John Smiuk, subsequently a member of Congress ; an active, energeCie, and
ardent politician of the Democratic school.— Eo.
t The Hon. Wiluam Findlat, afterwards Senator in Congress, and three yean
Governor of Pennsylvania, ftom the year 1817. He was bom at Iforosrabaig,
and is still (1846) living in PhikdelpUa.— Ed.
FRENCH REVOLUTION. 857
turned their hands to would have proved equally productive.
Let it no longer be said that the people are ungrateful, or that
virtue, in republics, goes unrewarded.
If Washington has no tomb, he must somehow have displeased
the people. He fought their battles, it is true, but was he suffi-
ciently tender of their pockets ; sufficiently obsequious to their
sovereignty 1 did he tell them, that he loved them ? No : but he
presumed to differ from them in opinion, and give them advice,
and freemen choose to think for themselves : nor will they sub-
mit to admonition from the bench or the pulpit.*
During the sitting of the Convention, the direful revolution in
France was in progress, and its proceedings sometimes appealed
to, as guides for our conduct Though hardly daring to blame,
and less impressed than I ought to have been with the treatment
of the clergy, I presume no one ever heard me praise : for there
was folly enough to disgust, before the appearance of crime ;
and I thought the nation was about to throw away the most
amiable part of its character. I remember, one day, at the table
of General Mifflin, at this time President of the State, when the
Parisian courtesans were applauded for contributing their patri-
otic gifts, I ventured to call in question the immense merit of
the proceeding. I was stared at by a pious clergyman for the
shocking heterodoxy of my sentiments ; and should, probably,
* ** The youn^ American of the fiitiire, lookiDg back on the hiitory of his ooontry
in the days of his ^rrandfathera, may, perchance, find books enough written in oar
own times, to teach him that what was called the old Federal party, with Wasbino-
Toir at its bead, and sach men as Jat and Hamilton in its ranks, was a rile nest
of traitors, bosily employed in the subTersion of American freedom ; that thepeopU^
alive to their machinations, and inflaenced only by strong intelligence and stem
integrity, deposed these unworthy guardians of public fireedom ; and, selecting men
who modestly shrank f^om notoriety, and whose patriotism was above suspicion,
dragged them from their beloved retirement, and forced upon them office and
honour ; and that, under the auspices of Thomas JirFmsoir and Aaron Baaa,
placed in the highest stations as well-tried and honest friends of their country, the
torrent of treason was checked. But, sometimes, it providentially happens that
one who was an actor in the busy scenes of past history rises up and tells his
slory. He may inform us, fbr instance, how one of these high functionaries, of
patriotism so pure, was aflerward tried fbr treason to that country which he loved
so well ; and how the other, with the ferocity of a bloodhound, sought the life of
his illustrious compeer, because he stood in the way of his ambition." — iVeto York
Rniew, voL ii. p. 191« — En.
358 BURKE AND ** TOM PAINE."
have been drawn into an altercation, no less disagreeable than
indiscreet, had not the General in a friendly manner pacified the
parson by whispering him in the ear, that I was perfectly well
disposed, and only sporting an opinion. So overwhelming was
the infatuation, so ominous the fanaticism, that even this godly
personage had quite forgotten that incontinence was a sin. He
** could have hugged the wicked slvis ; they pleased him."
Nearly about the time of this occurrence, I happened to be
at Reading, where Burke's Reflections on the French Revolu-
tion, with Paine's Rights of Man, both of which had just come
out, were the general topic of conversation. I had seen neither;
and when they were given me to read, I was apprised of the
delight I should receive from the perusal of Paine's pamphlet
As to Burke, I was told it was heavy and tedious, but that it
was necessary to condemn myself to a wading through it first,
for the sake of better understanding and relishing Paine's, which
was in answer to it. I read them ; but to my great misfortune*
and contraiy to all expectation, I became so firm an adherent
to Burke, that his opponent made not the smallest impression.
I have already made confessions which cautious men may start
at. But this is worse than all. The stolen Ribbon of Rousseau
was nothing to it : nor, although events have proved me right,
is that of any consequence. Many other things have turned out
right too ; but that does not lessen the odium of their early
advocates. It is the essence of sound civism to think with one's
fellow-citizens ; on no account to anticipate them ; and I ought
to have thought wrong, because it was the fashion. Republican
morality, like republican other things, being made by general
suflrage, will not always take the trouble to ferret truth from
her well ; and as it is manufactured pro re nata^ on the spur of
the occasion, it is liable, of course, to gentle fluctuations — but
infinitely safer, by the bye, in practice, than that of the old school.
I here speak from woful experience.
Under the administration of President Washington, the pros-
perity of the country was advanced with a rapidity which ex-
ceeded the most sanguine expectation of the friends to the new
system. It afibrded a cheering example of what a republic is
capable, whose councils are solely directed with a view to the
Washington's abicinistiiation. 859
general good; and if ever a portion of the human race was in
that auspicious predicament, it was that composing the popula-
tion of these United States.* But what is the general prospe-
rity to hearts that are torn by the furies of disappointed ambition
or avarice I It is but as paradise to the foe of mankind, engen-
dering a more deadly venom in the tortured soul, soothing
itself with the dire imagery of Claudian's Alecto.
Siccine tranqnillo produci MBCola curao 7
Sic fbrtona&fl patiemur yiTeres genies 7 ice ice
Unfortunately there was no proportion between the offices to be
disposed of,. and the persons who had been in expectancy. No-
thing less than miraculous power could have so distributed the
loaves and fishes as to fill the immense multitude that hungered
for them ; and the dissatisfied only repined at a success, which,
* All this is now historical and requires no illastration. Yet, in the year 1796,
the **Sage of MontieeUo** thus wrote to Mazzki, an Italian who had resided in
this country, and with whom the " Sage*' had formed an intimacy :
**The aspect of our politics has wonderfully changed since you left us. In place
of that noble love of liberty and republican goTcmment which carried us triumph-
antly through the war, an Anglican Monarchical and Aristocratical Party has
tprnng up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the substance, as they have
already done the fiirms, of the British Government The main body of our citizens,
however, remain true to their republican principles ; the whole landed interest is
repoblican, and so is a great mass of the talents. Against us are the Bbcecutive,
the Judiciary, two out of the three branches of the legislature, all the officers of the
government, all who want to be officers, all timid men who prefer the calm of
despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty ; British merchants, and Americans trad*
ing on British capitals, speculators and holders in the banks and public funds, a
contrivance invented for the purposes of corruption, and for assimilating us in all
things to the rotten, as well as the sound parts of the British modeL It would
give you a ftver, were I to name to you the apostates who have gone over to these
heresies, men who wero Samsons in the field, and Solomons in the council, bnt
who have had their heads shorn by the harlot England.**
The vanity of the Italian was not proof against the temptation to inform the
world that he was in correspondence with this philosopher, and the letter found its
way, much to the chagrin and annoyance of its writer, into the French news-
papers. Mr. Jefferson attempted to explain, but it was an embarrassing business,
and he could not, satisfactorily, dispose of it By ** the Executive** he did not
mean the President; and by ** Samsons in the field,** he did mean the Society of
the Cincinnati, See. Sec
"^Oh ! what a tangled web we weave.
When first we practice to deceive !** — ^En.
360 PARTY DISSENSIONS.
in giving happiness to the community, promised stability to the
rulers whose labours had procured it, and, in so doing, seemed
to ratify the blanks as well as prizes which had been drawn. In
each of the States, there were, no doubt, numerous malecontents ;
but they probably most abounded in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
In the former there was a number of aspirants for high office,
who could illy brook, that while they, in their closets, remote
from the din of arms and clangour of trumpets, had been quali-
fying themselves for the great affairs of the new empire coming
out ready made to their hands, others, who had spent their youth
in the unlettered business of the camp, should be preferred to
employments they deemed exclusively due to their own superior
attainments. Mr. Jefferson* and Mr. Randolph had indeed been
gratified with places, but there were others equally ardent for
them, unprovided for; and other motives concurring, the native
State of the President was perhaps the most refractory in the
Union. The chagrin in Pennsylvania did not proceed from
precisely the same causes. The discontented here had hardly
looked for the flattering notice of the General Government ; bat
they felt, (I speak of them in the aggregate, with due latitude
for honest exceptions,) that their intriguing parts would be mi-
serably circumscribed by the operation of the new system ; and
that on a theatre, where talents and character were the sole re-
commendation to office and consequence, their chance of influ-
ence was a very sorry one. Far different was it in the State
government, in which they had been accustomed to shine and
to dictate. There a little learning would go a great way ; and
cunning was a quality of infinitely more advantage to the pos-
sessor than wisdom or true ability; and though the State
authorities were still in force, they were no longer supreme, but
subordinate. I am aware that this representation does not
agree with the prevalent idea of our party dissensions. This
recognises, with very little discrimination, a lofly tone and aris-
tocratical tendency on the part of the federalists ; while, on that
of their opponents, it discovers an ardent concern for the
* Mr. JinriMoif had been appointed Secretary of State ; and Ediiuiid Rak.
DOLFB, also of Virginia, Attomey.Generald— Eo.
PARTY DISSENSIONS. 861
people's lights, somewhat more jealous^ perhaps^ than necessary,
and an enthusiastic attachment to liberty, excessive indeed, bat
even amiable in its extravagance. That this enthusiasm or fa^
naticism had once existed, may be granted ; but to admit that
it prevails to any degree at present, would require a determina*
tion to believe in defiance of the clearest evidence to the con-
trary, since they who are or were supposed to have it, are con«
spicuous for an overweening partiality for the most flagitious
and desolating system of arbitrary rule that was ever established
to an equal extent upon mankind, without even being disguised
by a mollifying appellation* My hypothesis, therefore, must ab-
solutely exclude the love of liberty and equal rights, as a general
feeling, among the democrats of the day, not only now, but in
time past Whatever benevolent motives they might claim, it
is perfectly fair to conclude, that they were actuated by a head-
long instinct of self-love ; a blind, infuriate impulse, prompting
those possessed with it, to remove, at whatever price, every ob-
stacle to the consummation of their unhallowed purpose, of rising
upon the rubbish of widespread havoc and devastation. It is
no objection to this supposition, that many of the democratical
leaders had too much property themselves to favour such an
object They might not all have been aware of it ; and those
that were, no doubt entertained the idea that they could restrain
their instruments when necessary ; or even if they could not,
they should, at all events, escape unhurt in virtue of their fel-
lowship. This is the unction, which in these cases is always
laid to the soul : nor can it be supposed, that the Duke of Or-
leans thought his head in the smallest danger from those he had
kindly helped by his vote to the head of the king.
As to the great leader of the opposition, there is reason to
believe, he was head, heart, and hand in the noble project of re-
novating, by first destroying, the world. Tout detruire^ oui tout
deiruire ; puisque Unit est recreerf says Mons. Robaud de St
Etienne. He had been in France, and drank deep of her lite-
rature and philosophy. His ofiicial doings and messages show
his utter contempt for un vrai trivial^ un clarte tropfamiliaire;
and that he was wholly of that school, which teaches, as Mr.
Burke tells us, ** that any good arising from religion or morality
81
362 PARTY DISSENSIONS KB. JEFFERSON.
may be better supplied by a civic education^ founded in a know-
ledge of the physical wants of men, progressively carried to an
enlightened self-interest, which, when well understood, will iden-
tify with an interest more enlarged and public." Robespierre,
to be sure, gave an unlucky illustration of this fine doctrine in
France. His enlightened self-interest gave him clearly to per-
ceive, that as he aspired to sovereign rule himself, so others did
the same ; and that, therefore, unless he sent them to their eter-
nal sleep, they would do as much for him. But in America, it
has turned out better ; and the enlightened self-interest which
prompted Mr. Jefferson to cast an eye upon the presidency,* has
most edifyingly identified with the interests of the nunUh &f la-
hour ; if not the whole, at least a very essential part of the
public. This mouth of labour, by the bye, is one of the fine
figures of speech, by means of which this gentleman has been
enabled to triumph over the popularity even of Washington ; al-
though it is sacrilegiously thought by some to savour a little of
that jargon, which the same Mr. Burke somewhat harshly de-
nominates, '^ the patois of fraud, the cant and gibberish of h)rpo-
* Of this *^enUghUned selflinterest,*' uid the enlightened tactics which eaiUed
Mr. JiFPKRaoN to triumph, there are eitant rery remarkable and aatisfactory prooft.
Davis, in his Life ofBcraR, says, ** It is a remarkable fact, that, previous to the
tMilloting in CSongress, [for President,] all parties and sections of parties concuned
in the opinion that the election would finally be determined, as it was« by New
Vof k. New Jersey, and Maryland. These three states would render the election
of Colonel Burk certain ; (100 of them could elect Mr. JcFVUsoif • The vote of New
Yofk was to be decided by Tbbodorus Bailt, of Duchess County, and Eoward
LiTiNOSTON, of the City of New York; the vote of New Jersey, by Mr. Liifir; snd
the vote of Maryland, by Mr. Dznt, or Mr. Bakr.** The New York Review, in
commenting upon this passage, holds the following significant language :
** Wliat was the fhture history of these gentlemen 7 Mr. Bailt vras made Post-
master of the City of New York, Mr. Liyinoston was appointed United States
District Attorney fw the distriet of New York, Mr. Limr became supervisor of
internal revenue for the State of New Jersey, and Mr. Dent was appointed United
States* Matshal for the Potomac District of Maryland. It is a marvellouriy strik-
ing coincidence that these gentlemen should thus all ha^ been boDoored with
appointments to offices in the Presidents gift Doubtless the only inquiries, 000.
coming each, were, is he honest — is he capable — is he fiiithful to the Constitotioo T
It is refreshing to turn away ftom the traitorous conspiracies of the wicked
Federalists, and dwell with lingering delight oO such immaculate patriotism as
thia.**.Eii.
MR. JEF7EK80N STATE OP PARTIES.
crisy." But we, on this side of the water, ought to have more
indulgence for a trade growing out of our institutions. As the
people give power, and power promotes thrift, the people may
certainly be complimented a little ; and hence, intolerance to-
wards demagogues, may fairly be ranked among the anti-repub-
lican tendencies. No censure, therefore, is aimed at one who
is the quintessence of good republicanism, and too pure to take
a stain, though fondling with imperialism. For my own part,
I am elated with the opportunity of recording my veneration
for a patriot who has so rapidly advanced the morals of this
new world, and whose scrupulous observance of truth pre-emi-
nently entitles him to the motto of vitam impendere vero>
The French revolution then, from the attachment now shown
by the Jefiersonians to the absolute despotism that has been pro-
duced by it, it is fair to conclude, was less beloved by them for
any philanthropic disposition it manifested, than from its being
an engine wherewith to assail their adversaries in power ; and
it was so much the better adapted to this purpose, as it was in
conflict with Britain, that accursed island, which, in the opinion
of all sound Jacobins, ought long since to have been sunk in the
sea. To declare a neutrality, therefore, with respect to the belli-
gerents, as was done by the administration, what was it but a base
dereliction of the cause of republicanism — a most enormous act
of ingratitude to those liberty-loving men, who had benevolently
taken off the head of Louis the Sixteenth, our late generous ally
and " protector of the rights of man V* and who, by so doing,
had made themselves the undoubted heirs of the immense debt
of gratitude we had contracted with the murdered monarch I
On the score of this gratitude transferred, can it ever be forgot-
ten, what a racket was made with the citizen Genet? The
most enthusiastic homage was too cold to welcome his arrival ;
and his being the first minister of the infant republic, " fruit of
her throes, and first bom of her loves,'' was dwelt upon as a most
endearing circumstance. What hugging and tugging I What
addressing and caressing 1 What mountebanking and chanting !
with liberty-caps, and other wretched trumpery of sans culatte
foolery !
*• Give me an ounce of cifet, good apothecary, to aweeten my ImaginatioQ !**
364 STATE OF PAETXE8.
In short, it was evident that the government was, if possible,
to be forced from its neutrality ; and that nothing less than a
common cause with France, a war of extermination with Eng-
land and the other monarchies of Europe, would satisfy the men
who are now so outrageously pacific as to divest themselves of
the means of annoyance and defence, and to place their glory
in imitating the shrinking policy of a reptile.* Fortunately for
the nation, Washington was at the head of it ; or the rage for
universal republicanism, combining with the plea of gratitude
derived from Jacobin morality, would have riveted us in liege
subjection to the imperial Napolcon-f
* ** As eTents rolled on, one circumstanoe and another conspired to mark more
distinctly the lines between the parties of the day, and at the period of the eketkA
of the third President of the United States, they were Tery clearly defined throofii'
out the Union, under the names of Federalists and Democrats. In the fint dw
were to be fomid Wabhuioton, Hamilton, Jat, PicnBauc, Am, MABWiiUi,iiiJ
others like them ; the last enrolled in its list JinKMON, Buam, Gtmai Cumw,
Madison, and many more throughout the State.** — NewYctk Rn. iL p. 193.— Eik
t By drawing themselves within the shell like a tortoise, and thence called the
Terrapin system of policy.
YELLOW FEVER. 865
CHAPTER XV.
Tdlovr Ferer. — Marsh Efflavia* — ^Popular Feelings towards France. — Party
Feelings. — A Threatened Insurrection sappressed hj the President — The
Western Expedition. — Address to the President — French Party.— Treaty with
Great Britain Opposed. — Rochefbucaolt. — French Trarellers. — M. Takn. —
Genet — Washington's Retirement— Character of Washington.
Such was the state of parties in the summer of 1793, when
the metropolis of Pennsylvania, then resounding with unhallowed
orgies at the dismal butcheries in France, was visited with a
calamity, which had much the appearance of one of those in-
flictions which Heaven sometimes sends to purify the heart A
disease that was soon recognised to be the pestilential yellow
fever, carried off several persons early in the month of August ;
and gradually spreading in all directions, raged with the most
fatal malignancy until the close of October. Those whose
property enabled them to do it, fled with precipitation from the
city, which was supposed to have been deserted by half its
inhabitants ; but enough remained behind to swell the mortaUty
to several thousands. The dismay was, if possible, increased
by the disagreement of the physicians as to the mode of treating
the disorder ; and numbers, who had exulted in the havoc of
their kind, because belonging to a different class, feeling death
to be a serious evil when brought home to themselves, shrunk
appalled with abject terror, at the dangers which surrounded
them.
To each his saff'rings : all are men,
Condemn*d alike' to groan.
The tender for another's pain,
Th' nnieeling lor his own.
A general gloom pervaded the country ; for although the ravages
31»
YELLOW FEVER*
of the disease were yet confined to Philadelphia, it was not sup-
posed they would remain within these limits, notwithstanding
that every precaution which the most unfeeling vigilance could
suggest, was used, to prevent the spreading of the pestilence.
Measures were taken in almost every town and village to pro-
hibit the entry of persons suspected of infection ; and even fugi-
tives from the seat of it, though in health, were regarded with a
jealous eye. Some of the people of Harrisburg were for fol-
lowing the example of their neighbours, though a malady not
less fatal than that in Philadelphia, was raging among them-
selves. But the difference was, that one was called a plague,
the other but a simple fever. It is somewhat remarkable, that if
the yellow fever is of foreign origin, as insisted upon by many,
that a disease of a similar type should make its appearance at
the same time on the banks of the Susquehanna, at the distance
of a hundred miles. Shall we say, that the state of the atmo-
sphere which generated the one was favourable to the difiusion
of the other? This, I believe, is the doctrine of those who con-
tend that the yellow fever is of exotic growth, and always
imported, when it appears among us. It would be highly pre-
sumptuous in me to undertake to decide, when ^* doctors dis-
agree ;" but that a state of the air should be favourable and
adequate to the diffusion, but not to the origination of a conta-
gion, is certainly refining somewhat nicely. I venture, however,
no opinion upon the subject With respect to the mortality
produced by the two diseases, that at Harrisburg was, I believe,
in proportion to the population of the place, as great as that at
Philadelphia. I cannot take upon me minutely to describe the
symptoms of the Harrisburg disease, nor were they the same
in all that were sick, but a general one was, an affection of the
stomach, or nausea with violent retchings and a yellowness of
the skin. Some were ill a week, some longer, some died in two
or three days from the time of their being seized, and others,
who were walking about with symptoms only of the ague, sud-
denly took ill and expired. The black vomit, which has some-
times been supposed peculiar to the yellow fever, appeared in
some cases. I was attacked with a quartan ague about the
MARSH EFFLUVIA. 867
middle of September, but had none of the grievous sjrmptoms of
the malignant fever which prevailed.
Whatever may be the points of discrimination between the
bilious and yellow fever, the origination of the one seems to
depend on the same cause which spreads the other ; and this
appears to be a torrid sun acting upon a moist soil, or upon im-
pure and stagnant water. The matter which produces agues,
and which, according to Doctor Cullen, is miasmata alone, is, I
take it, competent also to the generation of bilious fever in habits
disposed to it ; and if not to the generation, at least to the pro-
pagation or spreading of the yellow fever; wherefore, the
vapours from low and marshy situations and waters, rendered
baneful from certain adventitious circumstances, may be pro-
nounced to be the support or aliment of all these diseases, more
peculiarly of the latter perhaps, when the exhalations are
rendered more than commonly noxious from the general state
of the atmosphere. Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, are at once the
seat of the plague, and of bilious and intermitting fevers.
But the deleterious effects of marsh effluvia in warm climates,
have perhaps been known from the earliest time. They are at
least recognised by Silius Italicus, who wrote in the reign of
Nero. Speaking of a pestilence which raged in the Roman
army in the second Punic war, he ascribes it to the fervid rays
of the sun, acting upon the stagnant and widespread waters of
the Cyane.
Criniger astriieriB Titan fervoribos auras
Et patnlam Cyanam, late palostribus undis
Stagnantem, itygio Cocyti opplent odoro.
This cause existed at Harrisburg. A mill-dam had been
erected the season before on the Paxton, rather a turbid and
sluggish stream, within five or six hundred yards of the middle
of the town, on its eastern side. The obstruction must have
spread the water over a surface of from eight to ten acres ; and
this, co-operating with a state of the atmosphere unusually mor-
bid this season in such situations, may fully account for the
fever which prevailed. In the fall of the year 1792, there were
some cases of it, and still more in that of 1794, equally malig-
366 POPULAR FEELING TOWARDS FRANCE.
nant ; after which the mill-dam was removed. I have been the
more particular on this subject, though without being able to
offer any thing satisfactory, from knowing it to have been a
matter of some interest with the physicians of Philadelphia^ to
ascertain the nature of the Harrisburg disease ; thence to de-
duce data towards the solution of the question, whether the
yellow fever, as appearing in our cities, be, or not, a malady of
exclusively foreign origin.
The distress I saw around me ; the dismal tidings from Phila-
ladelphia; and above all, the frightful mania which had tnkea
possession of a vast majority of my fellow-citizens, induced a
dejection of mind I had never before experienced. I had been
for some time labouring to stem the torrent of fanaticism among
my townsmen ; but to no other purpose than that of increasing
their violence, and drawing down upon myself the denunciati<»i
of being inimical to liberty and an unnatural partisan of Eng-
land. It was in vain I urged that I was only treading in the
steps of the President, whom all pretended to revere ; that he
had chosen for his country the path of neutrality,* and that it
was the duty of all good citizens to acquiesce in it, until it should
be abandoned by those who were legally constituted to say
what should be the state of the nation in relation to the powers
at war. The bringing of the name of Washington to my aid,
produced no sort of embarrassment among the maniacs for re-
generation, who, in the same breath, extolled him to the skies
and denounced perdition on those who supported his policy. In
fact, his name was constantly used to sanction the measures of
his opponents ; and even in the contest for the presidency be-
tween Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, it is a matter of notoriety,
that his dislike to the administration of the former was atro-
ciously asserted, in defiance of his letter announcing his accep-
" The cabinet of Wasrinoton decided, iinaniroooily, that a proclamation Bhoold
be iasiied, ** forbidding the citizens of the United States to take part in any hosli.
lities on the seas, either with or against the belligerent powers, and warning them
against carrying to any sach powers any of those articles deemed eontrabuid ae.
cording to the modem usages of nations, and enjoining them from all acts and
proceedings inoonsbtent with the duties of a friendly nation towards those at war."
— ^jparAt' lAfe of IfatAii^en.— En.
PABTT FEELING*
tance of the command of the army, and unqualified approbation
of the steps which had been taken. It has been said, that hell
itself cannot be governed without some degree of truth ; and if
so, for policy-sake at least, we ought not wholly to discard her.
My indignation at this base dereliction of every honourable and
moral principle, conspiring with my firm conviction that my
opinions were correct, made me an enthusiast in the cause I had
espoused ; and the feeble efforts of my pen were employed in
vindicating the conduct of administration* In exposing the folly,
the frenzy, the duplicity and hideous wickedness of its adversa-
ries, I derived an additional incentive to exertion, from the
consideration, that the civilized world was so singularly circum-
stanced, that good men of every nation and country had a
conmion cause to maintain ; and, that in the threatened universal
wreck, conditions were so confounded, that even the private
American citizen might feel himself nearly on the same eminence
with those great and truly enlightened European statesmen, who
were labouring to avert the impending desolation: as in a
vessel in danger of foundering, the navigator's skill is, at the
moment, of no account ; and the meanest hand on board, may
be engaged in stopping the leak and plying the pump, to as much
eflect as the captain. But of what use are endeavours to fix
the charge of swindling on a political adversary 7 He denies
it, and retorts the accusation. Thus, with two-thirds of the
people, who are incapable of investigating the truth, did
they even think it worth their pains to do so, the parties as to
honesty, are left upon a level; and, hence, as the sovereign
has no objection to being deceived, he will be deceived, and
villany will be triumphant Such has been, and will be, the
common effect of appeals to Mr. Jefferson's Bar of Public
Reason^ which, if the phrase be not intended as a sarcasm upon
the tribunal, it must be meant as a cruel mockery of those who
are interested in just decisions from it*
* The writer of these obeervati(m« is not ignorant that writings in this strain of
remark, saljects him, in the eyes of yoor able politicians, to the impntation of 8x-
treme iolly. Who, say they, but an arrant oaf could expect to sacoeed in a go-
Tenament of popular sovereignty, by reason and good fidth 7 The people must be
deoei?ed ; and to be induced to be led by men of rank and intelligence, their proper
370 PARTY FEELINGS.
Among the abominations of this rage for French liberty and
fraternit /, there has been all along an utter disregard of the
most obvious dictates of justice, humanity, and consistency. In
the beginning, the Revolution must at all events go on : ca ira
was the word, and no matter by what monsters the business was
conducted. Power, for this reason, was always the criterion
of right : and Robespierre, until his head was ascertained to be
off, was no less popi lar with us than the best of his predecessors.
And for what was this horrible sacrifice of every thing we had
heretofore been taught to consider as virtuous and honest? To
destroy kings and nobles, monarchy and aristocracy, and to
make a huge republic of the world, wherein all men were to be
equal; or if there should, peradventure, be a little temporary
inequality, it should alone be founded on the uninvidious pre-
eminence of intellectual acuteness in the acquisition of pelf, or
popular suffrage ; sound titles, without question to superiority
among men ! Colonel Chartres,* for instance, among the first,
leaders, their prejadioee most be hamoured, — they must be flattered and cajoled.
But, if it be reaUy so, for the interests of morality, and the safety and honour of
the commnnity, he most say, in his torn, that it is matter of no very poijfnant re-
gret how soon such form of government is ezchangod ibr another, prosper who
may by the demagogoe game. The reader, noTertheless, will do him egregioos
wrong, if he concludes, flt>m the remarks of this kind scattered through his work,
that he b a firiend to arbitrary rule,— or yet disposed to part with oar present sys-
tem, however much abused. The remarks are the effect of an unoontroUaUe in.
dignation at seeing the fiiir fiibric of liberty we have reared, de&ced by onhaDowed
hands and daily dilapidating under the sapping process of pretended patriots.
But so averse is man flt>m giving himself a master, that though almost despairing
of the reappearance of the day when honest men shall emerge (hxn their d^grada-
tion, and the real friends of the people be sgain taken into &vour, he woold not yet
be among the last to oppose monarchical encroachoients. If we woold look fer the
persons most likely to &vour these, we shall find them in that dass, who consider
government as a source of selfish emolument, and always use it for that purpose,
whatever form it assume. The demagogue and the court favourite, says Mr. BomcB,
in a quotation fhim Aristotle, are not unfi«quently the same identical men.
• Damned to an eternal infkmy of fame by Pon and AaBomioT. This wretdi
was in&roous fi>r all manner of vices, and the point of the allusion will be beHer
understood by a quotation from Pon, and the celebrated character of him, in the
form of an epiUph, by Da. AaairraifOT. The former, speaking of moMy, and
doubting whether its invention has been more oseful than injurious to mankmd,
says,—
PARTY FEELINGS. 871
and names beginning with every letter of the alphabet among
the latter. But since this great republic has not come, or since,
at least, it has not come precisely in the form that was pre-
dicted, having clothed itself in imperial purple, instead of the
plain homespun garb in which it was expected to appear ; and,
having, moreover, in the place of its former hosts of patriotic
citizens and ciiesseSy presented us with dukes and titled men in-
numerable, with its Abrantes, its Cadores, its Ponte Corvos and
Beneventos, what is the ground of our attachment now to the
great nation ? To restore the freedom of the seas, and destroy
that Pandora's box of human ills. Great Britain. Wisely an-
swered again, and shrewd and patriotic must be the men who
"And I, who think more highly of our kind,
(And rarely, HeaVn and I are of a mind,)
Opine, that nature, as in duty bound,
Deep hid the shining mischief under ground :
But when by man*s audacious labour won,
FlamM forth this rival to its sire, the ran.
Then careful Heav*n rapplied two sorts of men.
To squander These, and Those to hide again.
Like Doctors thus, when much dispute has past.
We find our tenets just the same at last
Both fiiirly owning. Riches, in effect.
No grace of Heav*n or token of the elect ;
6iv*n to the fool, the mad, the vain, the evO,
To Ward, to Waters, CuAHTaKS, and the Devil !*'
The Epitaph is as Mows ; it conveys a moral, and no apology is offered for its
insertion here :
** Here continueth to rot the body of Franei$ Chartre$, who, with an inJlexihU
emutaney and inimitable uniformity of life, perntted^ in spite of a^e and tf^rmt-
ttes, in the practice of every human tice, excepting prodigality and hypocrity ;
his insatiable avarice exempted him f^om the first, his matchless impudence from
the second. Nor was he more singular in the undeviating pravity of his manners,
than successful in accumulating wealth ; for without trade or profesnon, without
(rtfsf of public money, and without hribe-toorthy service, he acquired, or more
properly created, a minUterial ettate. He was the only person of his time who
could cheat without the mask ofhoneHy, retain his primeval meanne$$ when pos-
sessed of ten thau9and a year, and having daily deserved the gibbet for what he
DID, was at last oondemn«l to it for what he could not do. Ob, indignant reader !
think not his life useless to mankind ! Pkovidxnck connived at his execrable
designs, to give to afier^ges a conspicuous proof vid example of how small esti-
mation is exorbitamt wealth in the sight of God, by his bestowing it on the most
UNWOKTBT OP ALL MOETALS.** — Ed.
372 A THRBATENBD INSURRECTION.
b^an and still maintain their claim to exclusive popularity and
confidence by two such admirable and solid systems of policy
and ethics ; and shrewder still that goodly portion of the people,
which shows itself capable of appreciating and rewarding such
transcendent state ability ! But I must not encroach on the pro-
vince of the party editor.
As every circumstance was seized by the discontented to
embarrass the administration, or, in the proverbial phrase, ^ to
stop the wheels of government,'* a handle was made of the
excise law. A duty being laid upon whiskey, that general and
favourite beverage in Pennsylvania, it was found a potent theme
for the purpose of sedition ; and it was, accordingly, preached
upon with so much unction, that an insurrection was the conse-
quence. It began beyond the mountains in the summer of 1794,
spreading from west to east with wonderful rapidity. Harris-
burg was quickly infected ; and a meeting had been called for
the purpose of passing some inflammatory resolutions. By the
persuasion, however, of a few of us, who were untouched by
the contagion, these inconsiderate men were uiduced to desist;
though less perhaps from a sense of their error, than from our
assurance that a body of troops were on their march to the seat
of insurrection ; and that if they persisted in theur undertaking,
they would involve themselves in the guilt of a forcible opposi-
tion to the laws, and most surely have cause to repent of their
temerity. It is difficult to say what might have been the issue
of this commotion, had not the President taken immediate
measures for its suppression, and called out a force so respect-
able as at once to overawe the seditious, and thereby prevent
the effusion of blood. The insurgents, who had once assembled
at Parkinson's ferry, had proposed another meeting at Brad-
dock's field ; a location, without doubt, adopted in terrorem, and
by way of hint to the effeminate federalists, what a set of
bloody-minded fellows they had to deal with. But the device,
however well conceived, was wholly lost upon General Wash-
ington, who had seen all sorts of folks in his campaigning, and
knew that men with moccasins, and leggings, and hunting
shirts, and tomahawks, and rifles, were just about as brave as
men with powdered heads and silk stockings, and no braver:
SUPPaESSED BT THE PRESIDENT. 878
and that their standing on Braddock's field, (tremendous spot
to be sure !) would not make them a jot more ready to leave
their carcasses to bleach there among bones that had been
whitening by a forty years' exposure. At any rate, these formi-
dable circumstances did not prevent his putting himself in a
posture to bring this lawless assemblage to reason ; and what
was equally unlucky for them, was, there being at his disposal
a number of persons who had also seen Service, and therefore
as little liable as himself to be dismayed by hideous grimaces.
To cut a well-known story short, there was no fighting after aD ;
it being thought best by the insurgents, on serious deliberation,
to send ambassadors to sue for peace, one of whom, if I mistake
not, was the veteran statesman Mr. Findlay, a man so minutely
acquainted with the whole business, as to have been enabled to
write a book upon it nearly as thick as a well^ized cheese ;
and in which, I am told, for I have never read it, he belabours
General Hamilton most unmercifully.* Washington, as already
observed, was still too popular for a direct attack. Whenever,
therefore, he was spoken of, it was with the warmest profes-
sions of veneration for his virtues and good intentions — thus
complimenting his heart at the expense of his head, and repre-
senting him as a good, easy simpleton, who, not very well
aware of the tendency of his measures, was continually led into
scrapes by the cunning rogues who surrounded him, the archest
of whom, at this time, was Hamilton. How exhilarating to
• Ez-gorernor of Peniisylvaiiia, to whom allQsioD has already been made. He
was the father of the late JAicn Findlat, Secretary of the Commonwealth dmring^
a porticm of the wrvioe of GroTemor Poktbr ; and of the preaent respectable Judob
FiNDi^T, who ia indebted for his position as President Jadge of the District Comt
fer the city and coonty of Philadelphia, to Governor Shunk, son-in-law of ex-
governor Findlat.
The ** CAeess*' referred tn, — a mouldy afiair,— contains a history of the Insur-
rection, which, as it was written by an ardent though able politician, may, perhaps,
be eonsulted with some advantage by the curious reader, if he will, at the same
time, pemse BRACKBmiDGK^s ** Incidents of the Western Insurrection,** and also
General Hamilton*s official Report in the American State Papers. Its oensnre of
HAMiLToif cannot be supposed to have operated very injuriously to that gentleman's
reputation. What may be the view which posterity will Uke of the attempt,— or
whether it will take any,'-is solely the business tf posterity, with which it would
be pfeeampCnoiis to intermeddle herod — Ed.
22
874 WESTERN EXPEDITION.
wounded patriotism, thus by a stroke of the pen to sink into a
fool and a knave, these two great champions of federalism 1
The Western Expedition, as it was called, gave me an oppor-
tunity of seeing a number of my old friends from Philadelphia;
and it afforded also a momentary triumph to the poor handful
of Harrisburg Federalists, who were stated by their opponents
to amount to only five. A French flag, which had been flying
at the court-house then building, had been the cause of some
squibbing in the newspaper; and this flag was peremptorily
ordered to be taken down by the troops from the city. Had I
been disposed for revenge, I might upon this occasion have
been fully gratified, as I was repeatedly asked who had caused
it to be put up, and impliedly censured for giving evasive an-
swers to the questions ; which, from their manner, evinced a
disposition to treat the authors of it much more roughly than
would have been agreeable to me.
Conspicuous among the crowd that rolled on from the east-
ward, was Governor Mifflin, who had been vibrating with much
address between the parties; and had really the merit of keep-
ing them in tolerable humour, within the sphere of his influence;
that is, within the limits of the State.
Sacfa in the midst the puiing iithmot lief,
While Bwellins^ seas on either side arise.
He had a large suite, which, as it consisted of gentlemen of
both parties, he was tugged a good deal in opposite directions;
though, on this occasion, his leaning was decidedly Federal, and
being so, he did me the honour to accept of a bed at my house,
instead of one at General Hanna's, which he had in his offer. I
have no doubt, however, that his head and heart were generally
right, maugre a conduct often wrong ; and though I am as little
addicted as any one to compromise between my conscience and
an opposing interest, and of course not at all disposed to apo-
logize for his temporizing, I cannot but admit* that Mifflin was
a pleasing man, and one to whom I was indebted for many acts
of kindness. But popularity and the bustle of public life were
hobby-horses he could not dispense with. He must mount them.
ADDKESS TO THS P&ESIDENT. 875
therefore, though at something more than a risk of being spat-
tered by the dirt which they raised.
On the day after his arrival he convened the people at the
market-house, and gave them an animated harangue, in which
there was nothing exceptionable save a monstrous suggestion,
that the British had stirred up the discontents to the westward,
and been the cause of the present opposition to government I
wonder if Mr. Smilie, Mr. Gallatin, and the rest of them, were
aware that they were but the puppets of this abominable nation !
In a few days after ^e Governor, General Washington, ac-
companied by Colonel Hamilton, came on. After waiting on
them, I prevailed upon the burgesses to present an address to
the President, which I sketched out, and which, from the cor-
diality of the answer, appeared to have been well received.
But as they have both been published, it is unnecessary to insert
them here.*
As to myself, I could not partake of the glory of this expe-
dition. An ague, which had hung about me ever since the
preceding fall, had rendered me unfit for service. Neverthe-
less, I procured a substitute, in preference to claiming an
exemption on account of my debility.
That this commotion, in its infancy, was highly pleasing to
the opposition leaders, can hardly be doubted ; and that it was
cherished also by the French minister as a favourable cir-
cumstance towards the predominance of the Gallic interest, is
fairly to be inferred from his notice of our " early decrepitude/*
and his intimation, that for some thousands of dollars he could
have plunged us into a civil war. But, I think, he was mis-
taken here, as the intriguers were neither fighting men, nor
disposed for absolute anarchy : yet, from his assertion, of what
he might have done by means of cash, it is a matter of obvious
deduction, unless Mr. Fouchet was a liar, that he had an under-
standing on the subject with the master-democrats, who, by
way of apology, as I take it, for not driving on the insurrection
with more spirit, had pleaded their want of pecuniary means.
* Thej will be ibund in Apfcndiz Q. What the author hedtated to do, may
sot inappropriately be done by another. — Ed.
376 jay'8 treaty.
Some of them, indeed, might have been willing to touch the
dollars, had the Frenchman been fool enough to bring them
forth ; but even in that case, he would have been overreached
and got nothing for his money.
One more stand was made against the popularity of the
President The occasion was found in the treaty with Britain,
negotiated by Mr. Jay. This was to have been expected ; as
a heavy clamour was raised at the time of his appointment to
the mission, upon grounds it would be both tedious and unne-
cessary to go over. The treaty, after much deliberation, had
been ratified in the constitutional mode ; but as it depended on
the House of Representatives to make the appropriations neces-
sary for carrying it into effect, it was here attempted to be
defeated by withholding them. Mr. Jay was as much vili-
fied,* as if he had laid the entire interests of his country at the
* John Jat waa a native of New York, where be waa bom in December, 1745.
He was a graduate of King's (now Columbia) CoUege; and, in 1768, was ad>
nutted to the Bar. In ] 774 he was a delegate to the 6rst American Coogress,
which met at Philadelphia. In 1776 he was choeen President of Congreas. In
1777 a member of the Convention which framed the Constitution of New York, and
in the following year he was appointed Chief Justice of that State. In 1779 he was
again in Congress, and presiding over the deliberations of that body. In the same
year he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain, for the purpose of obtain-
ing fi^m that government an acknowledgment of our independence, to form a treaty
of alliance, and to procure pecuniary assistance. In 1782 he was appointed one of
the Commissioners to negotiate a peace with England. In 1784 he retnmed to
the United States. On his arrival he was placed at the head of the Department
for Foreign Affairs; and on the adoption of the present Constitution, he was ap-
pointed Chief Justice of the United States. He was the author df several of the
numbers of *« The Federaliat:' In 1794 he concluded with Great Britain ths
treaty known as ** Jay's.** Before his return, in the year 1795, he had been elected
Governor of New York. He resigned his office of Chief Justice, npom reoeiviiy
informs tion of this event, and continued in the office of Governor until 1801, when
he retired to private life. He died. May 17, 1829.
His personal appearance is thus described by Sulutan : —
**His height was a little less than six feet; his person rather thin, but well
formed. His complexion was without colour, his eyes black and penetrating, his
nose aquiline, and his chin pointed. His hair came over his forehead, was tied
behind, and lightly powdered. His dress black. The expressiao of his foes was
exceedingly amiable. When standing, he was a litUe inclined forward, as b not
uncommon with students long accustomed to bend over a table. His manner
was very gentle and unassuming. His deportment was tranquil ; and one who
BOCHBFOUCAVLD. 877
feet of a foreign power; for such things were then justly con-
sidered as crimes. But shall the treaty go into eflTect? This
was the question in the House of Representatives, and it was
debated for weeks upon every point but the one really in issue,
namely, whether any treaty, whatever might be its stipulations
or advantages, was admissible with Great Britain; and whether
the anti-Federal party, should it relinquish the vital nourishment
it derived from a deadly, implacable, and everlasting enmity to
that accursed island, would be able to sustain itself, or have a
chance of ever rising again. These were the merits of the
case, though cautiously kept out of view. The treaty, how-
ever, stood its ground ; and the sole consolation of the defeated
faction, was to wait, with what patience it might, for the death
or resignation (to borrow its own phraseology) of the " first
and greatest of revolutionary patriots." Before dismissing the
topic, it may be remarked, that the ground upon which the treaty
was most strenuously assailed, was, that it imposed some slight
restrictions upon our trade. Yes — this was a ground taken
by the very candid and impartial men, who now advocate non-
intercourse laws and perpetua) embargoes, rather than expose
themselves to a collision with the other belligerent nation.
In the spring or summer of 1796, a letter was delivered by
a gentleman at my house, which gave me the opportunity of a
transient acquaintance with the Duke de la Rochefoucauld
LiANcouRT, who, being on a tour to see the country, was re-
commended to my attentions. My respect for the writer of
the letter would have induced me to avail myself of the honour
it offered me; but being indisposed and depressed by a domestic
affliction, I did not go out, and thus escaped the scrutinizing
had met him, not knowing who he was, would not haye been led to suppose
that he was in the presence of one eminently gifted by nature with intellectual
power, and who had sustained so many offices of high trust and honour. History
will assign to John Jat an elerated rank among the great ; not only so, it will
place him equally high among the pure and Tirtnous. Throughout his useful and
honourable life, he was goTcmed by the dictates of an enlightened Christian con-
science. He thought and acted under the conviction, that there is an accounta-
bility &r more serious than any which men can haye to their fellow.men. The
bravest soldiers, and the worthiest statesmen, have ever been those who believed
in such accountability.** — ^En.
32*
378 FBENCH TBAVELLERS^— K. TALON-
eye of an illustrious traveller.* It is certainly a perilous thing,
to stand before a man about to make a book, and who gauges
and proves you with a view to making your quantities and
qualities a component part of the subject matter. General
Hanna, it appears, had been in this predicament; and, all
things considered, he comes off very well. His age, I must
say, was pretty accurately guessed at by the Duke, who is also
correct in his other ob9ervations, that the General preferred
chewing to smoking tobacco. Were I about framing an h}rpo-
thesis why Mr. Hanna makes a somewhat better figure in the
tour than the gentlemen of Reading, in spite of theur acknow*
ledged hospitality and '< obliging answers to inquiries," I should
say, that he talked European politics with rather more under-
standing than they did, little, as the Duke tells us, they are at
best understood in America. Those talked in Reading, proba-
bly, were not entirely to the taste of a good Frenchman, who,
if I understand the character that phrase would designate,
would cry vive la nation et sa gloire^ not only in exile, but with
his neck under the guillotine. Now, though the Reading gen-
tlemen spoke with just abhorrence of the crimes of the Revolu-
tion and with due respect of the Marquis de la Fatette, they
might neither have testified a desire, that England should be
brought to the feet of France, nor that the destinies of the
world should be subjected to her control ; things, which, from
his party-leanings, Mr. Hanna, might have countenanced. All
this, however, is but conjecture; and as to the accuracy of
the noble tourist's facts, so far as I am acquainted with them, I
have nothing to object, except as to the havoc of names.
From this gentleman, I turn to others of his nation whom he
speaks of in his travels ; and for whose acquaintance I was in-
debted to Major Adam Hoops, who, I should have mentioned
* This nobleman woi a member of the Congtitiient AHembly in 1789, at the
dinolution of which he took the military command at Ronen, aa Lientenant^Geae-
ral He resided for eighteen months in England, previooslj to his tour throogb
the United States, which he completed in 1798. After the restoration be was
created a Peer. His life was published by his son in 1827. The principal work
of RocHKTOucAULD is his Voyage dam U$ jSkate-l/nis, pubUshcd at Paris in eigbt
vols, octava — En.
ASYLUM— CITIZEN GENET. 879
before, did me the honour to attach himself to my company, in
the capacity of a volunteer^ during part of the campaign of
1776. A letter from him about the year 1790 or ^91, so far as
my recollection serves, introduced me to Mr. Talon, then en-
gaged with the Viscount De Noailles, in establishing a settle-
ment on the north branch of the Susquehanna, and to which
they gave the name of Asylum.* In the course of this business,
he several times passed through Harrisburgh, and never failed,
on these occasions, giving me an opportunity of seeing him.
Mr. Talon fully justified to my conception the favourable idea
that is given by Lord Chesterfield and others, of a Frenchman
of rank. I have seldom seen a gentleman with whose manners
I was more pleased. Though he spoke but little English, and
I less French, yet from the knowledge we respectively had of
each other's language, we contrived to make ourselves mutually
understood. On one of his visits to Harrisburgh, he was at-
tended by not less than ten or a dozen gentlemen, all adventurers
in the new establishment, from which they had just returned on
their way to Philadelphia. Of these, I only recollect the names
of M. De Blacons, Captain Keating, and Captain Boileau. My
brotherf and myself, who had waited on them at their inn, were
* The Due DE LA Rochefoucauld, in hii travels, has giren a full account of this
place, as it appeared in 1 795. ** Messrs. Talodts and De Noailles, came to this
country ftoni France, intending to purchase, cultivate, and people, 200,000 acres
of land. They had interested in their project some planters of St. Domingo.
Messrs. Moerxs and Nicholson sold them the lands, and, in Deoemher, 1793, the
first tree was cut at Asylum. M. De Noailles was to manage the concerns of
the colony at Philadelphia. M. Talon attended to the erection of log-houses, and
the preparation of land for the reception of the colonists. They were disappointed
in the receipt of a part of the fUnds upon which they had relied, and were obliged
to relinquish their purchase and improvements. They then became joint partners
in tlie business with Morris and Nicholson. The quantity of land was enlarged
to a million of acres, and Talon was to act as agent, with a salary of $3000 and
the use of a large house. Ignorance of the language, want uf practice in business
of this nature, other avocations, and tlie embarrassments of the company, deprived
Talon of the happiness of opening a comfortable asylum for his unfortunate
countrymen, of aiding them in their settlement, and thus becoming the honoured
founder of a colony. He and M. De Noailles, sold out to Mr. Nicholson.**^
TVaeels.— Ed.
f The late highly respectable and estimable William Geaydon, Esq., of Har.
risburgh, before mentioned. The same who was made prisoner, and concerning
whom the author, long in suspense, had suffered great anxiety « — Ed.
380 CITIZEN GENET.
kept to supper, and I have rarely passed a more agreeaUe
evening. The refreshment of a good meal, coiTee and wine, had
put in motion the national vivacity ; aad the conversation, car*
ried on in English, which many of the company spoke very
well, was highly animated. Captain Keating was, in fact, an
Irishman, and Captain Boileau had been among the troops
which had served in this country. As to Mons. Blacons, he
was but a novice in the language ; yet hurried away by a high
flow of spirits, he ventured so boldly in it, expatiating to me on
a projected road from Asylum to Philadelphia, which, accord-
ing to him, required nothing but the consent of the Le^slatuie,
to be completed out of hand, that Talon, astonished at his volu-
bility, exclaimed ce iCest pas lui c'est le vin que parle^ ^ that
it certainly was not he, but the wine that was talking." The
French Revolution being touched upon, it came into my head
to ask Captain Boileau, how it happened, that he and the other
gentlemen who had been in America, and must of course have
been among the foremost in inculcating the doctrine of liberty
in France, were now so entirely in the background? His an-
swer was interrupted by a loud and general laugh ; and Talon,
who had probably been adverse to the revolution in all its stages
and modifications, (as he was the person on account of whose
courteous reception General Washington had been roundly
taken to task by the citizen Genet,)* enjoyed the thing so much,
that he thought it worthy of remembering, and put me in mind
of it, in an interview with him a long time afterwards. This
gentleman had apparently stood high in the confidence of the
King, as, on once dining with him, at his lodgings, he, at the
instance of a French lady, from St Domingo, who was present
and had observed that I was uninfected with the regicide mania,
• First Miniifter of the French Republic to the United Sutes. He wo the
occasion of infinite troable and embarrassment to President WAsmNGTON. His
condact became at length so ofiensive, that the American Minister, Gquymmhmxjk
Moaais, was instructed to demand his recall of the French Government GDntr
received letters of recall, although his mission would have terminated at the time
if he had not been, as the party in France to which he had been indebted fer his
mission, was overthrown. M. Genxt remained fai the United States, and retired
into the interior of the State of New York and devoted himself to agricultural
porsnits. He married a sister of the late Dk Witt Cuntdn.— Ed.
▲STLUlf M. TALON. 361
showed me his picture on the lid of a box studded with diamonds,
that had been presented to him by his Majesty, as the inscrip-
tion imported.
The Duke de la Rochefoucauld gives some particulars of the
Asylum settlement, humorously called by some of the settlers,
refugium peccatommy and enumerates the families which had
established themselves there, many of whom from their names I
remember to have seen ; but I have understood, that the settle-
ment is now entirely abandoned by the French, and I have been ,
told by persons who have seen the tract, that one more rugged
and mountainous, except the particular spot whereon the town
stands, could hardly be found. In this, it agrees with Mr.
Talon's account of it, who, upon my asking him as to its situa-
tion, said, the mountains were trop rapproches^ thereby convey-
ing the idea of a narrow strip of flat land along the river. The
afiairs of France were a subject not often touched upon by Mr.
Talon ; but it was impossible not sometimes to advert to them,
and he testified much concern for the death of the murdered
Malesherbes, who, if I mistake not, was one of the counsel for
the king. He spoke of him as a noble, generous man — un gal-
lant homme^ was, I recollect, one of bis expressions. Talon was
understood to have been in the law-line himself, and to have been
AvocaUgeneral under the old regime. If this was the fact, the
office was, apparently, through royal favour, hereditary in his
family, as one of the same name in that office, is spoken of by
Cardinal de Retz, in the following very honourable manner, and
the more so from his being in the opposite party, and a foe to
his seditious designs. '< Talon, Advocate-general, made one of
the finest speeches that was ever made on a like subject I
never heard or read any thing more eloquent He mixed with
his reasons whatever could serve to make them the more
moving. He invoked the manes of Henry the Great, and kneel-
ing down, he called upon St Louis' to protect the kingdom of
France. You fancy, perhaps, that you had laughed at this
spectacle ; but it had moved you, as it did the whole company,
upon whom it worked in such a manner, that the clamours of
the inquests began, as I perceived, to decrease by it" Though
thb quotation may be thought a strange wandering from my
382 WASHINGTON RETIRES FROM THE PRESIDENCY.
purpose, inasmuch as it mingles the transactions of ages past
with those of the present, I could not suppress it, since it places
in so amiable a light the virtue of patriotism, and the irresistible
eloquence which may flow from that source. We too have our
sainted friend in Heaven, who, by a stretch of fiction, more
warrantable, may be supposed to be watching over the destinies
of this country ; but much I question, whether an equally solemn
invocation to his manes would find matter so soft as was found
in the breast of this Catiline, and in the hearts of those who
were set in motion by his machinations.
To return to our own affairs. Although no other specific
ground of opposition than those already mentioned, was taken
against the President, yet the whole tenor of his administration
was bitterly and incessantly inveighed against as hostile to
liberty. The logic of democracy was extremely compendious,
and therefore the more satisfactory to superficial inquirers. On
the one hand, it pointed to republican France ; on the other, to
a combination of despots — and this was enough. In so interest*
ing a struggle, could any friend to his kind be neutral ! And
the inference was, that they who were not for France, were
against her, and monarchists, tories, and tyrants of course. The
name of England too, was well calculated to rouse old resent-
ments ; and the single circumstance of her being opposed to
France, was quite sufficient to make all staunch, Boeotian whigs,
allies of the latter. Was she not, it was asked, engaged in a
cause exactly similar to our own — and shall we side with rojral-
ists against her. Shall we not rather, in the glowing language
of (^enet, march to combat under her banners, and repay her
for the generous assistance she gave us in our contest? Such
arguments struck the public sensory with force ; and the impres-
sion they made, was not to be effaced by any reasoning more
complex and refined. Besides, who listens to reasoning that
runs counter to his passions, his prejudices, and his interests?
One perhaps in a thousand. It now became evident that to be
popular, or even tolerated, it was necessary to be a partisan of
the French ; as to doubt, merely, the holiness of their cause, was
the certain road to odium and proscription. It is not at all to be
wondered at, therefore, that the prudent, the timid, and the
CHAEACTE& OF WA8HINOTON.
thrifty, all lent themselves to democracy, and helped to swell a
tide, which seemed ready to rise above all mounds, and to bear
down every thing before it, even to the weight and popularity
of Washington. That good man now began to doubt whether
the prize of independence, which had cost him so many anxious
days and sleepless nights, were really worth the sacrifices which
had been made* for it;* and whether posterity might not have
cause to question the value of his services, or even, under the
smart of anarchy, to exclaim — ^' Curse on his virtues, they have
undone his country !" Weary of the struggle " with vice and
faction," he at length resolved, at the expiration of his second
term of service, to retire from the presidency, and leave it to be
scuiRed for between Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefierson.
Never had the soul of Washington exhibited more illustrious
proofs of true nobility than in that very part of his life which
excited the most viperous malignity, and brought upon him the
execrable charge of having legalized corruption. Though
always great — ^though in his early manhood distinguished as the
protector of his country from savage inroad and depredation-—
though the only man perhaps in America, who by a transcen-
dently virtuous, prudent, dignified, and persevering deportment,
could have kept us united, and carried us triumphantly through
the Revolution — be never appeared to more advantage than
during the arduous season of his eight years' presidency. Like
the magnanimity displayed by Cato in his march through
Syrtes and Libyan deserts, it might justly be preferred to the
most brilliant military achievements.
Hanc ego per Syrteis Libyeeqne eztrema triomphom
Dacere maluirim, quam ter Capitolia curru
Scandere Pompeii, qaam firangere ooUa Jagarths.
Contrasting the glorious height to which he carried the
American name, with its present lamentable degradation ; the
prosperity to which he raised his country with its present
wretched state of despondency and subserviency to a foreign*
and despotic power ; are we not fully justified in applying to
* A very nmilar reflection in made by Jadge Brackenridge in his Incidents of
the Western Insurrection.
884 CHAKACTBK OP WASHINOIOV*
him the ^ fine rapture^ of Lucan, in regard to the patriot of
Rome?
Eooe pums v<enii patrMB, dig^niMiBiii nit
His ooontry*! father ben, O Rome, behcdd.
Worthy thy temples, priests, and shrines of gold !
If e*er thoa break thy lordly master's ehain.
If liberty be e*er resCorM agam.
Him shalt thou place in thy dirine ahodes,
Swear hy his holy name, and ruik him with thy fods^*
• Next to a man's acli, it would seem that the best lest of his fesGngi and dii.
positions was hb prifaie confidential sentimenti to hb friends; and inabtterfrn
this rirtuoos citizen to Gen. Rmi, of November 97th, 1778, is the Iblloviiir pi.
sage : — ^**It is also most derootly to be wished that Action was at an end, lad tint
those to whom every thing valiiaUe was entmsted, would lay aside party rieiriiBd
return to first principles. Happy, happy, thrice happy country, if such were tk
govenunentof it! But, alas! we are not to expect that the path will be ibeved
with flowers. The great and good Being, who rules the unlveise, has ^tpmd
matten otherwise, and for wise purposes, I am perraaded." Such were tbe eni^
nations of his patriotism and piety !
ELECTION OF US. ADAMS. 385
CHAPTER X^l.
Election of John Adama to the Presidency. — Hia Administration. — Mission to
France^ — French Party in America. — Imposition of Taxes. — Singular Fabrica-
tion.—Another popolar Insurrection. — Election of Jeflforson to the Presidency.
Popolar Fanaticism. — Author's Political Principles. — Death of Wabhinqton.
Character of Jefferaon.~Concluding Reflections.— Conclosion.
In the contest for the Presidency, Mr. Adams prevailed by a
very small majority. Hence, federalism was still ascendent in the
national councUs, though considerably depressed in those of some
of the States, which were working by sap, while their myrmidons
abroad, displayed as much ardour to storm the strong hold of
aristocracy, as the Parisians had done to demolish the Bastile.
The tone given by Washington was maintained by his successor.
Equally federal, he spoke a language more lofty; and in his
answers to the numerous addresses, which were presented to him
on occasion of the insolence of the French Director^', he was
thought egregiously heterodox ; particularly in one, in which, he
somewhat unnecessarily, indeed, takes occasion to speak of his
having once had the honour to stand in the presence of the Ma-
jesty of Britain. Shocking sounds, to be sure, to the republican
ears of the day! Though, now we can talk of the Imperial Ma-
jesty of France, without the smallest danger of setting our teeth
on edge, or of being proscribed for incivism. Nay, we even
permit a democratic editor to live, who not long since proposed
to turn our republican President into a Monarch, and to invest
his temples with a diadem^
But I must hasten durough the stormy scene of Mr. Adams's
Administration. The Bepublictms, as they now styled themselves,
(for nothing is more conducive to a successful cajolery of the
people, then a well chosen Appellation,) having got rid of Wash-
ington, continued their efibrts for the ascendency with increased
33
386 FRENCH PARTY IN AMERICA.
hopes and animation. They were no longer the enemies, but the
friends and watchiul guardians of that constitution they had so
lately deprecated as the greatest evil that could befal them ; or,
to use the words of citizen Fouchet, they had '' disembarrassed
themselves of the insignificant denomination of anti-federalists,
and taken that of patriots and republicans." This was, doubt-
less, an able marugwore. They got possession, by it, of a popular
name, and their next care was to show how well they deserved
it. An occasion soon occurred for a display of their new patriot-
ism and republicanism. This was the arrogant and swindling
conduct of the Directory, already mentioned. Their demand of
tribute^ and threat, in case of non-compliance, to barter us away
as they had dohe Venice, being properly felt and resented by the
sound part of the community, addresses to the President were
poured in from every part of the Union, expressive of a sense of
the outrage received, and a determination to support the govern-
ment in any measures of defence which the crisis mig^t demand.
The Directory did, unquestionably, make a sad blunder here,
and might have ruined their cause, if any thing could have ruined
it. Instead of playing to the hands of their partners on this side
the water, they forced them most unmercifully by leading a suit
they could not follow, but were absolutely obliged to ruff. Never-
theless, the awkward thrust was parried with admirable dexterity;
and joining a cry they could not silence, they came forward with
their addresses, too, breathing a most ardent zeal for the honour of
their country, and a vehement indignation at the afiront which
had been offered it. To take off a litde, however, from the
odium incurred by the Directory, under whose auspices they
fought and machinated, they fell upon the extraordinary expedient
of sending an extraordinary envoy, on their own account^ to
France, and the extraordinary personage selected for this service,
was Doctor Logan. He was held out, at least, as the party's
messenger. It appears to be in the essence of Jacobinism, as ob-
served by Mr. Burke, to excite contempt and laughter no less
than horror and tears ; in the words of a French writer, en ne
fod s^empecher d?m pleurer^ et tPen rire. In France, its vis
conUca was illustrated in dubbing the ruthless Duke of Orleans^
Monsieur Egalite ; and in America, it exemplified itself, in dub-
FRENCH PARTY IN AMERICA — ^LOGAN's MISSION. 387
bing Doctor Logan an Ambassador of the people : and it was
even attempted in abject apery of the fantastic tricks of the great
Mma mater at Paris, to bring the Doctor's wife upon the stage
in the manner of Roland's and Tallien's. It is perfectly in my
recollection, that some of the democratic prints of the day, spoke
of Logan and Deborah, in the style of Louvet and his Ladouiskie.
The object of the Doctor's mission, or going, (if not sent,) was
twofold ;• first, to assure the Directory that they had yet a strong
party in America, which, if properly cherished and co-operated
with, would soon be predominant, and enabled to repay their as-
sistance with interest ; and second, to show the people of this
* lo SuLLryAN*8 Letters there is a reference to thii gentleman and his mission.
He says **earlj in 1798, a certain Dr. Logan departed from Philadelphia for
Parb, charged with a private mission on public affairs to the Directory. By
whom sent was no secret, the House addressed the President, two to one, on this
■eriooB sobject ; and a like address passed the Senate, with only five dissentients.
In this address it is said, ** We deplore that there are those who call themselves
by the Americau name, who have daringly insulted oar country, by an usurpation
of powers not delegated to them, and by an obscure interference in our concerns."
Mr. Jcffrrson was said at the time, to have sent Logan to Paris. In one of his
letters, he answers some inquiry on this subject ; and says, that the accusation is
groundless; that Logan was self-appointed, and that he (Mr. Jefferson) did no
more than give him some sort of passport** Whether this gentleman was selfl
appointed, or whether be was sent by Mjl. Jefferson and bis party, to which Mr.
Logan was attached, is a matter of very little consequence note, whatever may
have been the degree of irritation produced by his movements at the period of his
alleged ** obscure interference." He has been represented by his friends, as a re-
spectable, benevolent, man, whose object in this affair, as in every other of a public
nature, in which he engaged, was service to his country and his fellow-raen. If
be mistook his vocation and over estimated his abilities, and the sincerity and
virtue of his associates, or employers, by whom he was flattered and caressed for
purposes of their own, that was his misfortune, and without question, he lived
long enough to discover it to be so ! But,«in regard to his truly estimable wife
who, like himself, is now beyond the reach of censure or of praise, and who is
here, somewhat rudely and abruptly exposed to public gaze, the Editor may be
permitted to remark, — (while expressing surprise and regret that the Author should
have permitted himself, even while under the influence of strong party resentment,
to be betrayed into an otherwise unaccountable impropriety, inconsistent with his
own elevation of character as a generous and accomplished gentleman,) ~ that
none who knew her could, with truth, utter a word in disparagement of her fair
claim to unlimited respect and regard, or could lay to her charge, aught that
could derogate from the dignity and purity with which, meekly and beautifully,
she invariably sustained, the proudest character to which woman may aspire^-
tbat of an enlightened, patriotic, unobtrusive, American Matron.-*Ed.
388 FRENCH PA&TY IN AMERICA.
country, that the Directory had no quarrel with them, but merely
with their rulers ; and thence, holding out an inducement to change
them. What a blessed picture of republicanism was here ! and
to give its figures full relief, the proper light to set them off, it
should be observed, that the persons exhibiting it, had engrossed
the commodity and possessed it exclusively. By the fundamental
principles of the constitution, and indeed of all the elective sys-
tems, to certain persons is delegated the power to govern: if
they misuse the trust, they are removable by the votes of the
people, and others put in their places ; but foiling to accomplish
this, the wheels of government were to be stopped, and its func-
tions usurped by any that might choose to do it: Can a clearer
definition be given of anarchy ? What lover of state juggling
but must be charmed with the series of able tricking, by which
the virtuous Jefiersonians crawled into power ? As Doctor Logan
has lately been to England, with the same pacific views, (he tells
us,) with which he went to France, I shall not contest his motives
in either case. Still, the use that was made of his voyage to
France, by the party devoted to her, is a circumstance too im«
portant to be omitted in a recognition of the devices of the
faction.
It was to have been expected, that the unexampled profligacy
and insolence of the ruling power in France, would have consi-
derably depressed their Democratic adherents in America, and
strengthened the Federalists in the same proportion ; but the con-
sequences were directly the reverse. Alarmed much more than
necessary at the menace of the Directory, and relying more upon
the addresses from the people, than a considerate attention to
their sentiments would warrant ; (as, although they all expressed
a warm regard for the honour of the country, they, for the most
part, drivelled about the unkindness of the dear Sister-Repubtic,)
the administration and its firiends in Congress, seemed to think,
that they were assured of the public support, in any measures
against France, however energetic they might be. In this per-
suasion, such as deemed a state of hostility preferable to a state
of fraternity with her, probably thou^t the occasion too favour-
able to be suffered to pass away ; and in this view, an attitude
unequivocally hostile, was taken by the government* A pro-
IMPOSITION OF TAXE8.
visional army was voted, volunteer corps invited, ships of war
equipped, and as a part of the system of defence, against a foe,
which was well known to have numerous partisans among us, the
alien and sedition laws were enacted. But the most volcanic
ground of all was yet to be trodden. Money was to be raised,
and not a little would suffice. The ordinary revenues were inr
sufficient ; and the adherents of the foreign power, already exulted
in the anticipated ruin of their adversaries, who vainly flattered
themselves with a public confidence, which could not be shaken.
With less ability, the intriguers had vastly more cunning than the
federalists ; and from their better acquaintance with the human
heart in its selfishness and littlenesses, they well knew, that a
direct and sensible application to the pocket, would be more
likely to blow up the prevailing party than any thing else. It
has been well said, that a disorderly people will suffer a robbery
with more patience than an impost. Under this conviction, the
patriots had long sickened at perceiving that the community was
satisfied ; and that the current expenses of government were so
easily raised. This was truly provoking. They wished the
people to feel, they said. It was not right that they should pay
without knowing it ; and hence, a furious and persevering clamour
against indirect taxation. It was reprobated as hateful and anti-
republican in the extreme ; it was not to be endured ; and, inas-.
much as it aimed at deceiving the people (wicked thing!) by
cheating them into contributions, which their, love of country
would always most cheerfully afford when necessary, it was re-,
presented to be unworthy of freemen ; and to imply a suspicion
both of the virtue and understandmg of the community, which,
about the same time was voted by the democratic part of con-
gress, to be the most enlightened on the globe, France herself
scarcely excepted. All this was vastly fine and highly pleasing,
no doubt, to the galleries ; a charming material too, for the repub-
lican editors to cook up a most savoury dish for their customers.
The simple, well meaning federalists were, in their turn pleased
also, at finding that their opponents were smoothing the way to a
measure, that, in the present conjuncture, would be exceedingly
eligible for them ; and therefore, with no small degree of self-com-
placency for their supposed address, took the tricksters at their
33*
390 IMPOSITION OF TAXES.
word, and passed a law for a direct tax. Its operation was on
houses and lands ; but still keeping in view, the policy of favour-
ing the industrious and frugal at the expense of the luxurious, the
farmer paid very little for his property in proportion to the idle
gentleman or inhabitant of a city, who gratified himself in the
enjoyment of a sumptuous house. In the same spirit, a tax had
been laid upon carriages kept for comfort and pleasure ; an article
which, beyond all others, made manifest the discrimination in be-
half of the mouth of labour. Nevertheless, it was the mouth that
from the hollow, pretended solicitude of its parasites that it might
not be '^ deprived of the bread that it earned," was brought to
clatnour the loudest against taxes which did not effect it, and had,
in fact, a tendency to relieve it; another proof of the inconside-
rateness of the multitude, and of the superior potency of words
to things, and consequently, of the very little chance indeed of
honesty and fair dealing in a contest with knaveiy and hypocrisy,
before " the bar of public reason."
This tax on real property, was the fatal blow to federalism in
Pennsylvania. The Stamp Act was, indeed, had enough, because
it was a Stamp Act that first excited our displeasure with the
mother country : The very name of an excise was hateful to firee-
men :* The alien law, set at naught one of the inherent rights of
man, that is, the right of irnpairiation and expatriation^ of coming
and going and saying and doing whatever the love of liberty
prompted ; and the sedition law was still more execrable, since,
in permitting the truth to be given in evidence in exculpation of
a libeller, it gagged the mouths alone of patriotic liars and calum-
niators, the only species of partisans whose labours could be
efficient in a cause, emphaticzdly that of falsehood. But, though
all these sad doings had been carefully impressed upon the sensory
of the great Germanic body of Pennsylvania, they had not fully
wrought the desired effect. Their pockets had hitherto been
spared, and wheat had borne a good price. But now their vul-
nerable part was touched, and they began to. look about them.
* It is remarkable, that the FedcralUtt Beemed really to belioTe, what it wat
evident from the conduct of their opponents, they did not believe, vii. That the
people were enlightened. They were persuaded,, however, of the efficacy of flat
lery, and laid U on thickly^
IMPOSITION OF TAXES. 391
Nor were there wanting "friends of the people" to sympathize in
their oppression, and to put them in mind, that it was to avoid
the payment of taxes we went to war with Great Britain ; that the
federalists, therefore, were as tyrannical as she had been, and that
this tax upon farms, houses and windows^ was but the beginning
of a system, which would soon extend to every thing; and that
we should have at length a tax upon horses, wagons and ploughs ;
or as it was expressed in a handbill, circulated in favour of the
election of Thomas M^Kean, " a horse tax, a cart tax, a plough
tax, &UC. &c." The love of pelf was completely roused; and
many an honest farmer came to the poll with a countenance of as
much anxious determination, as if upon his vote the question was
suspended, whether he was to remain the independent man he
was, or to sink into a pennyless vassal. Nor is it to be wondered
at, that he was thus " perplexed in the extreme," when it is con-
sidered, that although we never bribe, all offices were afloat, and
depended for their re-*settlement on the issue of the election and
the will of the successful candidate.
The success of a good trick, is only a theme for mirth among
those who have talents for the business of electioneering. Low
cunning, indeed, such as is moulded into the buffoon characters,
we see in novels and upon the stage, your Sancho Panzas, Tony
Lumpkins, &c. passes current for extreme cleverness, among the
bulk of our rural statesmen. These are of the class of Mr. JefTerson^s
chosen people, however ; and though, when in their place, their
petty rogueries are very harmless and diverting ; yet, when agog
for office, with the extensive means of mischief they possess, in
their sovereign capacity, they may, nevertheless, be fully com-
petent to the ruin of a nation.* The name of Washington, as
* This idea, a litUe dilated upon, will enable me to defend mytelf against a
chargfe made against me, of portraying my countrymen in very dark colours. I
do, however, believe that they are naturally as good, and from the influence of
their habits and institutions, better as respects the more atrocious vices, than the
people of most other countries, of Europe in particular. But, I am constrained
to believe, also, that in a government so constituted as ours, when immoral men
rule the corrnption at the head, it will soon be diffused throughout every part of the
the body politic. One thing tending to this is the desire of office very generally
pervading the community, and still more so the wish of being on the strongest
side and acting with the majority, which is even more prevalent. The ignorant
392 SINGULAB FABRICATION.
already observed^ was always usurped by this species of good
republicans; and so deplorable was the stupidity of a certain por-
tion of the most enlightened people upon earth, that the following
fabrication was not too monstrous for. their intellectual gullets.
John Adams, it was stated, was about to unite his house to that
of hLs Majesty of Britain, either by marrying one of his sons to one
of the King's daughters, or one of his daughters to one of the
King's sons, (I forget which,) but the consequence was, that the
bridegroom was to be King of America : — ^That General Wash-
ington had heard of this, as well as of the other anti-republican
conduct of the President, at which, he was, of course, most
grievously displeased : — That, therefore, he went to talk to Mr.
Adams upon the subject, and by way of being more persuasive
by appearing gay, good-humoured and friendly, he dressed him-
self in a suit of white, and discoursed with him very mildly ; but
neither his dress nor his arguments were of any avail. Then he
waited upon him a second time, and in order to render his re-
monstrance more solemn and impressive, he put oi> a suit of black,
and set before Mr. Adams the heinousness of his proceedings ; but
to as little purpose as before. He, at length, paid him a third
and last visit, in which he appeared in full regimentals, when find*
and timid are entirely swayed by it, so are tbe- cunning and interested, as well as
that lighter kind of stuff which yields to the puff of every fashion; deseripttons
these, which comprehend by far the larger portion of all communities. It requires
some strength of mind, as well as strong poHttcat impressions, and a dignified
sense of virtoe, to resist a torrent of public opinion emanating from the source of
power, and carried by the force and influence of triumphant faction into private
dealings, consigning to odium and sometimes to proscription, every man whether
lofly or humble, who does not fall in. Admitting this to be the case (and will
any candid man deny it when the public mind is in a state of high agitation?),
it is not to make the people more than ordinarily flagitious, to maintain that they
then l>ecome corrupt and instrumental to corruption. Even their honest preju-
dices, no less than their vices may enlist them in a policy ruioons to their eoantry.
Still I must say, that prejudices are as unamiable as they are mischievous. N»
political opinions should be taken up, and still less persisted in, without strict ei-
amination. Want of candour is want of justice ;- and a tenet that will not bear
the test of that golden rule, of doing unto others, nothing that we would not choose
they should do unto us, ought, without hesiUtion, to be discarded. Love of
ooantry can no more justify us in doing wrong, than love of ourselves. It is, in
fiiet, with most people, the same thing, however they may be pleased lo digni^ it
tnik th0 name of patriotism.
ANOTHER INSURRECTION. 393
iDg the President still deaf to good counsel, he drew his sword,
declaring, he would never sheath it, until Mr. Adams had relin*
quished his wicked designs; and so left him a sworn enemy.
During the circulation of this ingenious romance, not ill adapted
to the capacities it was designed for, and having all the marks of
veracity derivable from circumstantial minuteness ; the letter from
General Washington, announcing his acceptance of the command
of the provisional army, and his approbation of the measures pur-
suing, was also circulating in the federal prints. But this signified
nothing, as they never reached the persons to be deluded by the
story ; and even if they had reached them, the letter would imme-
diately have been knocked down as a federal lie. Such, be it
again observed, is the bar of public reason.
The consequence of these united efforts of patriotism and in-
vention, was another insurrection. The sedition which began
in the county of Northampton, ran in a vein through the counties
of Berks and Dauphin, spreading the infection by means of
liberty poles, successively rising in grand colonnade, from the
banks of the Delaware to those of the Susquehanna. Mr. Adams
had now to set to work, to quell this second effervescence of
liberty ; and it proved a matter of no great difficulty, when force
was applied. Poor Fries,* like the whiskey insurgents, was, for
a time, left in the lurch ; but finally sent " a coloneling,'* by
good Governor M*Kean. The object of the tumult, however,
was perhaps fully obtained; and had Fries been hanged, it
would have been deemed but a very small sacrifice. It enlisted
the feelings and resentments of a populous district on the side of
democracy ; and by the spirit of turbulence and discontent it
* This wu dutingfuiihed as fV»e«'« Inmitreetion, It bad itt origin in an at-
tempt of the Federal Government to collect a direct tax. The tax particularly
objected to viras the ^ house tax." It broke out at the close of the year 1798, and
discords prevailed to an enormous extent, throughout a large portion of the coun.
ties of Bucks, Northampton and Montgomery ; and great difficulties attended the
Assessors in the execution of their duties. At the head of these hostile move-
mentSy was a certain John Fries, He was tried and found guilty of conspiracy,
and was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, a fine of fifly dollars, and to give
security for his good behaviour for a year. This interestiog trial was published
in Philadelphia, in the year 1800, and was reported in short hand by Tkama$
Carpenter, — Ed.
394 MR. JEFFERSON ELECTED PRESIDENT.
scattered abroad in the State, it helped to prepare the way for
the coming in of Mr. M'Kean, as its Governor; and Ihence, by
the ^' momentum of Pennsylvania politics," (noticed by Mr.
Dallas,) to pave the way for the accession of Mr. Jefferson to
the Presidency. It gave occasion too, for a useful nickname on
the administration of Mr. Adams, which with a sardonic grin,
not unworthy the taunting malignity of demons, was by the re-
cent shouters for the mountain party of Robespierre, denomi-
nated, a reign of terror, now become a truly odious thing.
Such a fund of republicanism, as was, by these means infused
into Pennsylvania, could not fail to operate favourably for the
republican candidate^ Chief Justice M'Kean; and he was, conse-
quently elected Governor in preference to Mr. Ross ; and the
same causes, aided by Callender's Prospect before us, that chef
d^CBuvre of civic piety, operating in the same direction through-
out the Union, not long after, invested Mr. Jefferson with the
presidency. Summoque nlularunt vertice nympha.* Ye who
have genius for the epic, employ your talents here! one entire
action of twelve years successfully terminated at last, not by
ruffians stained with blood, but by meek and gentle operators in
the " swindling arena."
Such a result was to have been looked for. The morbid state
of the public mind, was, I repeat it, to have been deduced from
the very addresses to the President, which have been considered
as indicative of a manly, patriotic vigour. They will on the con-
trary (at least it was the impression made upon me at the time
of their appearance) be too generally found to breathe a spirit of
bigotry ; not a generous love of country, not an adequate horror
of vice, not a proper understanding of the subject, but rather a
whining lamentation, that the conduct of the Directory, so little
fraternal, had a tendency to impede and interrupt the glorious
career of illuminatism and kingly demolition. This was evi-
dently perceived and felt by Mr. Adams; and was, doubtiess
his inducement for complimenting the Harrisburgh address, whose
merit, if it had any, was, that it cut deeper and approached
* Nympha^ by lome of Virgirs commentators, are here understood to mean
furies, and may easily be extended to the /uriet of JaeoffinUm ; which, no doubt,
howled in exultation upon this occasion.
POPULAB FANATICISM. 395
nearer to the source of the evil than the general tenor of the
addresses had done.* Let us love our country, let us cherish
our institutions, and check their tendency to corruption and
abuse; but let us no more think of cutting the throats of those
who may differ from us in their civil polity, than of those \yho
difier from us in their religious creed. Should we not look with
something more than pity on the fanatic, who should languish to
kill the Pope, to exterminate the cardinals, and annihilate the
Holy See? What then but an equally silly spirit 6f fanaticism,
can induce us to sigh for the re-generation of Europe in the ex-
tinction of her kings and privileged orders! Does any one now
suppose that it would meloriate the condition of mankind ? But
the symptoms of this most loathsome mental distemper, were
never more manifest than shortly before the downfal of federal-
ism, when the gallant Truxton, for an achievement that re-
dounded to his country's glory, and for which he should have
received her unqualified, warmest applause, was assailed with
brutal rage, and called a ruffian and a murderer. Could any
thing more clearly demonstrate, that love of country was swal-
lowed up in a rage for political theory ?
By this memorable victory of Pennsylvania democracy for the
behoof of Virginia aristocracy, occasion is afforded for much seri-
ous reflection on the sad effects of party fury; and giving the
reign to those vindictive passions, which arise from selfishness
opposed. No man, perhaps, ever more fatally and intempe-
rately rioted in their indulgence than Mr. M'Kean. But the
affair is old, and I am little disposed to renew it. As keenly
sensible to injury as any one, I have felt with poignancy ,^ and
given vent to my indignation; but it is neither for my reputa-
tion nor my repose, to cherish feelings which deform the outward
man, and prey upon the breast which haibors them. I shall be
cold, therefore, upon a subject, wherein warmth and even acri-
mony might be justified.
From the account I have given of my political opinions, it can
scarcely be necessary to. say, that my vote was on the federal
side, and given for Mr. Ross; and that I was of course involved
* See the Addren, with the answer of Mr. Adams, in AppendU R.— £o.
396 author's political principles.
ia the proscription that followed the defeat of my party. In a
word, I was one of those, who were loaded with reproach and
detruded from office, as men unworthy to partake of the honours,
or even to eat the bread of their country. The extent of my
oflending, the reader is acquainted with. It was the crime of
my party in being prematurely right ; in daring to be wiser than
the great body of the people. Why then did I not play the
dotard with my country ? Why did I not sigh for fraternity with
France, unconscious of the peril that awaited it?
** I iwear *tii better to be much aboard,
f Than bat to kaow*t a little.*'
If I unfortunately thought diflerently from Mr. M'Kean on the
highly interesting subject of Gallic republicanism, and, in so
doing apostatized from my former Whigism, I can only say, I
could not help it. That I did not forego my opinion when I
found it repugnant to his, is not a matter of so easy extrication.
I was contumacious, I know I was. But my conscience is satis-
fied ; and that I never shouted in the sanguinary triumphs of
the Jacobins, will, though it has made me poorer, bring conso-
lation along with it, in the close of a life, which, b all other
respects I could wish, had been equally blameless. An early
enthusiast in a most unfashionable cause,
Some nga to me unknown
DippM me in ink, mj parents or my own ;
even before my sentiments could be relished by the generality
of the party to which I belonged ; and while, from their novelty,
they were so shocking to others, as to draw into question the
sanity of my intellects. I had even ventured to shed a tear for
the fate of Louis and his family ; I had presumed to doubt the
wisdom of Brissot, and to arraign the humanity of Robespierre,
long before the guillotine had granted toleration for these
opinions.
But independent of so much heterodoxy, my simple vote had
been sufficient for the punishment that ensued ; since the posses*
sions of the vanquished, were, in the true spirit of the feudal
397
system, to be parcelled out among the champions of the victorious
leader. This, without doubt, was a mutual preliminary to a part-*
nership in the war; and as among the holders of office, in the
apologetic naivete of Mr. Jefferson, "few died and none re-
signed," what was left but to cashier them ? I forbear to reiterate
here, the stale remark that the free, unbiassed suffrage of the citi-
zens, is the basis of the republican form of government. Maxims
have their use, but must be wholly disregarded in extreme cases ;
as, in England, the Habeas Corpus act. Republicanism herself,
was here in danger. Was not a band of conspirators, with
Washington at their head, in the very act of establishing a mo-
narchy under the insidious mask of federalism ?*
A man desirous to know the world ought to place himself in every
situation to which the vicissitudes of life may expose him. Above
all he should be acquainted with adversity, and that particular
kind of it, which results from a sudden reverse of fortune. But
to see the heart of man, in that most unfavourable point of view,
in which the milk of human kindness is turned to gall and bitterness,
he should behold it when elate with a "republican triumph." It
has twice been my lot to smart under the hand of oppression. I
have been exposed to the fury both of royal and republican ven-
geance ; and unless I may be misled by the greater recency of
the latter, I am compelled to say, that the first, though bad, was
most mitigated by instances of generosity. If it produced the
enormities the reader has been made acquainted with, the other
was ruthless enough to rejoice at the sight of helpless families, at
once reduced to indigence, stripped of their subsistence, driven
from their homes, and sent to seek their bread by toiling in a
wilderness. This is no exaggerated picture ; I saw the reality
and felt it too, in the case of a near connexion. And for what
crime was it the punishment? For embracing the policy of
Washington; for being true to the dictates of honestj'; to the
* This apostasy to monarchy, was inferred from President Washinoton's not
joining the French agfaintt England ; but now, when Spain is contending for her
rights and liberties, the Jeffersonians can make common cause with her perfidions
oppressor without danger of any such deduction or imputation. Their incorrupt!*
ble republicanism can e?en take the fraternal hug with an emperor without the
smallest suspicion of contamination^
34
DEATH OF WASHIKGTOir.
interests of their country, to the interests of humanity; for having
larger hearts, and greater minds, and nobler souls than those,
who, by the inscrutable will of Heaven, were permitted to be
their chastisers.
The death of the great Father of his Countxy, which happened
between the election and the inauguration of the Governor, af-
forded another instance of democratic versatility. He was pub-
licly and pathetically lamented and extolled by the leaders of the
party: By Mr. M^Kean, while in the very act of chastising his
followers; and by Mr. Jefferson while contemplating a similar
conduct. The latter, it is said, made a visit to his tomb, which
he plenteously bedewed with tears, and groaned aloud with eveiy
gesture of the deepest woe.* Achilles himself was not more in-
consolable for the loss of his Patroclus: and even in the sacrifice
of twelve young Trojans to his manes, he was far outdone by this
illustrious modem mourner, with the remarkable difference, how-
ever, that whereas the one made victims of the enemies, the other
selected for immolation, the friends of the lamented dead.
Uteumque ferent ea facta niinores ;
Vinoel amor patrits, laadnmque immenfla copida
In the election of Mr. Jefferson the long and persevering efforts
of democracy had obtained their tUHmatum; the beginning of that
millenium that had been so anxiously sighed for. With this pro-
pitious era, therefore, I close my narrative of political events and
party machinations. I had, indeed, aimed at nothing more than
* The reader of Mr. JEmasoN^s '^Memoirs and Correspondence** will tarn away
with loathing from thii miserable exhibition of hypocrisy ; particularly when he
recalls to his recollection certain passagfes of the ** Ana,** in which the cloven loot
is anskilfolly concealed. WASHfnoron was fully advised of Ma. JBmnsoN*t
duplicity as to himself, and placed a proper estimate upon his character and
designs. In his letter to John NicneiLAs, dated 8th March, ] 798, Washingtoh
wrote: ** Nothing short of the evidence yon have adduced, corroborative of inti-
mations which I had received long before through another channel, coald have
shaken my belief in the sincerity of a friendship which I had coooeived was
possessed for me by the person [Jefierson] to whom yon allode. But attempts to
injiire those who are supposed to stand weU in the estimation of the people, and
are stumbling blocks in the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, and
thereby to destroy all confidence in them, are among the means by whieh thv
Goverament is to be assailed, and the Constitution destroyed^— Eb^
CHABACTEK OF JEFFERSON. 399
a sketch of public affairs, in so far as my fortune was more pecu-
liarly implicated in them. As to the conduct of Mr. Jefferson, in
the management of his high trust, it would appear to have been his
primary object, to discredit the republican form of government, by
illustrating the abuses of which it is susceptible, and its proneness
to become the prey of unprincipled intriguers. I should suppose
him to be a monarchist of the true imperial cut ; and that his
administration was peculiarly calculated to surfeit us with liberty;
to expose the nakedness of our systems, and the extreme fragility
of those ties he once denominated Lilliputian. Upon this hypo-
thesis, all is plmn and consistent ; on every other, inexplicable,
unless we can admit the possibility of a philosopher being a fool,
or, of a patriot being a man solely bent on filling his pocket,
Methinks I see the mighty personage, like a sated Condor on the
Andes, sublimely perched on Monticello, triumphantly deriding
the clumsy labours of New England morality, and self-compla-
cently counting the gains of his superior illumination. But
whether the speculum through which I view him may magnify or
diminish him, show him justly or distort him, it is too manifest a
truth, that the lesson given by France, we are inculcating with all
our might, and erecting America, also, into a beacon instead of a
guide. To the sad example of former Republics, we are eagerly
adding our own, and certifying in colossal characters to the world,
the melancholy result of "this last and fairest experiment," in
favour of free government.*
* The melancholy retail alluded to, ii, that a oombinatlon of selfish, nnprln.
cipled men, are able to pass themselTes off for paragons of virtue and patriotism.
But, such is our vis medieatrix natura ; onr tendency to resist and recover firom
the impolicy of our rulers, that our country is still prosperous in defiance of all
their sinister efforts for our ruin : and hence it is, that not only the mass of our
own people are imposed upon, but the enlightened of other nations, who know
nothing of our affairs in detail. *'It is thus, in America," says Madame de StadI,
**that a great number of political problems appear to be solved, because the citi«
zene are happy and independent" Yes, several political problems are, indeed,
•olTed, and one of them is, that demagogues are as omnipotent here as ever they
were in the Republics of Greece, and that an Aristides among us is not a jot
more secure f^om ostracism than he was at Athens. But still, it is true, we go
on, and are getting rich, and have no tyranny or injustice that we do not inflict
oarselvea ; and the great problem that yet remains to be solved, is, how long a
^public can flourish or subsial without good morals. A rigorous prosecution of
400 CONCLUDING BEXLECTIONS.
As to myself, I have obtamed the reward which pexhaps every
man must look for, ^^ who, upon the strength of innocence alone,
shall dare openly to speak the truth, without first propping him-
self by cabals, without forming parties for his protection." I have
not only been punished by my political enemies, but have seen
the justice of the measure solemnly ratified by the suffiages of
those whom I supposed to be my friends. For the sake of a
paper constitution, whose threatened destruction has become the
trick of the demagogue, seeking power, as its preservation be-
comes his device, so soon as he is invested with it, a host of
officers, that had been prostrated by the pioneer of Mr. Jefferson,
were coolly and remorselessly consigned to their fate by the fede-
ralists. The substance of justice was exchanged for its shadow,
and the principle established, that virtue is a certain bar to the
attainment of power, an encumbrance which the candidate cannot
too soon shake off; and, that corruption and wrong mark the
route to be pursued.* This, be it known, is the unanimous de-
cree in Pennsylvania, the law of the land, nemine contradkenie.
A similar, but much less galling and extensively mischievous in-
stance of ratified oppression, gave birth to the Social Contract of
Rousseau. He had been borne down, unjusUy, as he supposed,
by the French ambassador to Venice, to whom he had been secre-
tary, and with whom he had a dispute ; and his oppressor, coun-
tenanced and supported by the community, first gave him, as he
tho loat war by Britain for two jean more, woold hare thrown much light oo
the solution of the problem.
* They had soon, moreover, the mortification to find that he had no longer the
ability to serve them. His influence with the democrats was at an end ; and be
was only potent while actinj^ In their views, and hunting down with them in foil
cry, their political opponents. It might now be said of htm as it was of Labiennst
when he left C8Mar*8 standard for Pompey*8 :
Fortes in armis
CfDsaris Labienos erat nunc transfiirga vilia.
The only result, then, of this grand political raanmuvre was that the ftderalifti
exclusively fastened on themselves the odium of this man*s tyrannical chtnder
by tliis their sanction of his violent and oppressive conduct Strange that they
should forget that their principles were essentially bottomed on morality sod
virtue ; things much more sacred and radically important than tho forms of a
Constitution,
REFLECTIONS. 401
informs us, the idea of a comparative analysis of the govemment
and society to whose justice he had appended in vain. '* Every
body agreed," says he, ^'that I was insulted, injured and unfor-
nate; that the ambassador was mad, cruel and iniquitous, and
that the whole of the affair dishonoured him forever. But what
of this? He was the ambassador, and I was nothing more than
the secretary. The justice and inutility of my complaints, left in
my mind seeds of indignation against our foolish civil institutions,
by which the welfare of the public and real justice are always
sacrificed, to I know not what appearance of order; and which
does nothing more, than add the sanction of public authority to
the oppression of the weak and iniquity of the powerful." It is
scarcely necessary to mention, that these remarks refer to the
ancient monarchy of France. Could the author of the Social
Contract have supposed that they could ever be equally applicable
to institutions expressly founded on the principles of liberty and
justice, and which even aim at restoring the natural equality of
mankind ! But Rousseau was not aware, that the germ of the evil
he complained of, was not in any particular form of goverment,
but in the world, ever slavishly inclined to offer incense to power,
with very little regard to the general justice of its exercise.
If the end of punishment be to reform, mine has been wholly
lost upon me ; though my example has no doubt been useful to
others. I was too high-toned and indiscreet even in the opinion
of many federalists; for many there were who saw no wisdom in
martyrdom.* I am still, however, to speak the truth, a most
* Matters are now both better understood and better managed; and mach,
toleration is granted to those ardent and aspiring spirits, who cannot endare to
wait until virtue shall obtain her own reward. The process is too slow, the re.
suit too ancertain. Hence the short cut to distinction and office, bids fair to bo
all the mode ; and, to the honour of democracy be it said, that she suffers apostacy
to go unrewarded, having truly more joy, as it would seem, in the recognition of
one repentant sinner, than in the contemplation of ninety just All that appears
exceptionable in the tergiversating business, is, that in the way it is now prac-
tioed, it looks too much like deserting and taking advantage of our duller and less
ethereal political associates. But, if the federalists would one and all come into
the measure ; if, as a party they would renounce their opposition and their errors ;
if they would proclaim themselves converts, succumb to tlieir victors, and taking
their cue from the tamed shrew of Shakspeare, would say the sun was the moon,
or the moon was the sno, in obedience to the whim of democratic dictation; why
34*
402 REFLECTIONS.
incorrigible sinner, though somewhat cooled of my ardour ; and
so little amended by the chastisement I have received, as to be-
hold, if possible, with increased contempt and execration, the
procedures of those very great and good men, under whose
auspices it has been administered. The possession of power has
exhibited them in even blacker colours, than did the sink in
which Ihey "lay straining their low thought," to obtain it: and
although unable to vie with our dear departed sister republic in
deeds of martial emprize, we certainly '^ gall her kibes," in those
of fraudulent achievement. In truth, we must by this time be
nearly mature. Hypocrisy, we are told, is the consummation of
vice; and the libertine hero of Moliere's Festin de Pierre, is not
thought ripe for destruction until he receives this last polish of
villany.
If there be any thing wrong in this language, it does not arise
from its being applied to a point of which there is any doubts
but merely from its solemnity approximating it to bombast, by
being employed on a matter, become trivial from extreme fami-
liarity. However shocked at first, we now only laugh at the
monstrosities of the era^ After what we have seen in France^
and are now witnessing at home, Caligula's making his horse
consul is a thing of very easy belief; nor is any historical pheno-
menon more incredible than the mutual passion subsisting be-
tween enthusiastic republicanism on the one hand, and the most
desolating and dismaying system of despotism, which the world
has yet beheld, on the other.*
Ihcn " the doors of honoqr and confideDoe would be thrown open to all»** and we
should hear no more of faction and ** anti-republican tendencies.*' Bat, how far
this might improve our morals^ and narrow the ground for European defamation,
is another thing, but wholly immaterial to a community whose ** own approba-
tion of itB own acts,'' to use the words of Burke, ** has to them the appearance of
4 public judgment in their favour."
* **x\ perfect democracy," says the inspired Burke, ** is the most shameless thing
in the world. And as it is the roost shameless it is also the most fearless. It is
(ess under responBlbility to one of the greatest controlling powers un earth, the
sense of fame and estimation. The share of in&my that is likely to fall to the
lot of each Individual in public acts, is small indeed ; the operation of opinion
being in the inverse ratio to the number of those who abuse power. Their own
approbation of their own acts, has to them the appearance of a public judgment
In their favour**' Who oould not conclude, fix>m the justness in every iota of
REFLECTIONS. 403
Though this picture may pass with some, for a hideous cari-
cature, enough of truth, I trust will be found in it, to convince
them that we are no longer in that full tide of successful ex*
periment, that wafted Mr. Jefferson into office,* that, on the
contrary, we felt the influence of " retiring ebb," and were
therefore, needlessly vigilant in guarding against the inroads of
British corruption. Neither have we shown that we are so en-
tirely well adapted to our institutions as to render it a necessary
ingredient in the education of our youth, to prepossess them with
a bigoted aversion to every other mode of government, and
thereby to render them the ready patrons of insurrection and
anarchy in every quarter of the globe. The commentaries of
Blackstone, we are told by a great law character and writer,
should be studied with caution, since he is heterodox in some
of his opinions, and does not trace power to its genuine source ;
that is, '' through its small and pare streams up to the free and
independent man." Mr. Burke too, comes under the lash of the
American statesman, who, with a sneer, that had much better
been spared, insinuates his want of integrity, and talks of his
" new creed." But what did Mr. Wilson know of his old one ?
Was it ever confided to him? Did Mr. Burke ever tell him that
he was not a monarchist, but a republican ? For he certainly
these remarks, that their author had beeo an eye witDets of the adminiitration of
Jkffkrson and Madison, in every stage of their barefaced effrontery and daplicity!
I almost pity these anhappy roeo, destined to wear out the wretched remnant of
their days without one drop of the balm of self-approbation, absolutely cot off
from the pleasure, no less than the profit of reading Burke, as in every page of
bis political morality, they would bo sure of meeting a cutting satire on them,
selves. But, of demagogues and tyrants, the condemnation is the same.
Magne pater divtim, scvos punire tyrannos
Hand alt& ratione velis, cum dira libido
Moverit ingenium fervente tincta veneno
Virtutem videant, intabescantque relicUL.
Pers, Sat. 3d.
* This truly '^successful experiment** is partially explained; and the means by
which Mft. Jkffkeson was ** wafted into office," fully exposed, if biographers
and historians always speak the truth, by a scrap of secret history for which, I
believe, the world is indebted to Mr. Davis, the able and candid author of the Life
of Buaa. See Appendix S. — Ed.
404 REFLECTIONS.
never told the world so. Mr. Wilson was an able man, and his
eloquence as a speaker, singularly forcible and commanding ; bat
when he undertakes to raise trophies to himself from the dispraise
of such men as Blackstone and Burke, he engages in a task which
may justly be termed a bold one. As to the fine allegory, under
which the fountain of political power is represented to have been
at length discovered, like the source of the Nile, what does it
amount to ? It may be happily conceived, but it is little satis*
factory. " Men's rights," says Mr. Burke, **are their advan*
tages." This is coming to the point: and it is not a discovery
of the source of power, that decides the question of human hap-
piness, but how its streams can be best distributed for the attain*
ment of that end. After finding power to originate in the free
and independent man, we have yet to inquire. Whether this free
and independent man, will voluntarily submit to the restraints
which the good of the community requires of him. If he will,
Mr. Wilson is both practically and theoretically right; and the
question, as to forms of government, is at rest. But his manner
seems rather too dogmatical, considering that he is the advocate
of a system, which, however plausible in theory, has experience
against it: and when he compliments us Pennsylvanians, for oar
love ^' of libeny and 2au7," he must certainly have adopted the
maxim of Umdando admonerey since neither in the attack of his
own house, nor in our two more recent insurrections, is this dis*
tinguished love of law to be recognised. There appears to me,
therefore, more propriety and wisdom in speaking of our instita-
tions, as experiments, whose failure may be deemed the genera)
misfortune of mankind, as is done by Mr. Hamilton, in his Fe-
deralist, than in treating those with disrespect and asperity, who
have laboured to support other principles of government, — prin-
cipless too, which seem absolutely essential to order, in the na-
tion of which they were subjects. That we possess advantages,
which are not to be found in the oltf world, I have no diiliculty
in believing ; but in an estimate of our comparative superiority,
it is but fair to abstract from our polity the benefits derived fiom
our state of society and population. Instead, then of engaging
in scholastic disputations and wars of extermination about polid-
cal modes oC faith, let ua be content with performing oar duties
RELFECTIONS. 405
to the system we have established for ourselves: and, in the
writings of this very Mr. Burke, heretic and apostate though he
be, a most excellent lesson may be found for our purpose. It is
in his Appeal to the Old Whigs, page 82, of the New York edi-
tion. The passage struck me, as containing reasoning, at once
new, moral and refined ; but I have since found it to be merely
a dilatation of the quatrain of Gui du Fur de Pibrac, in words,
which are evidently the text of Mr. Burke's most beautiful com-
mentary.
Aime Tetat, tel que tu lo Toit etre :
SUl royal aime la royaate ;
SUl ne Vest point, B*il est commanaute
Aime le auasi, qaand diea Vy a fait naitre.*
Still if the sentiment be thought too indulgent to legitimate
monarchy,! (and nothing royal is to be endured, it seems, unless
proceeding from fraud, usurpation and violence) I say with Mr.
Wilson, that democracy is the best of all possible governments —
if the people are not warding to themselves. But, that we have
been latterly a good deal wanting to ourselves, I must be per-
mitted to believe ; and also to think with Mr. Hillhouse, that in
the present corrupted state of our morals, what has been absurdly
termed a strong executive, and thought our best security, has be-
come our greatest bane — that the splendour of chief-magistracy
we must not look to have; but, in its stead, an unostentatious,
ephemeral head, begotten by chance, and dying while yet in in-
fancy— literally coming up and cut down like a flower. The
attributes of royalty, neither become us, nor are good for us.
* It maj thos be trauilated : Love the state to which you belong, snch as you
find it to be : if, of the royat kind, love and be loyal to it : if, on the contrary, it
be a commonwealth, equally love and be faithful to it, since Heaven has made it
the place of your nativity.
t This remark anticipated the great question, since made, between legitimacy
and usurpation. A shape imparted to politics about the time of the batUe of
Waterloo, in 1815, and not adverted to in discussion, until after that event Re.
publican ism having been fairly renounced by the French Revolutionists, the only
ground left for them, was the vindication of new monarchy in opposition to the
old, of upstarts supported by human slaughter, termed glory, in opposition to the
civil arts, of industry and commerce, fostered by the influences of religion and
peace. A state of things vainly stigmatized as indicative of imbecility and na-
tional degradation.
406 REFLECTIONS.
They sink our great men into very little ones, or only, '< aggran-
dize them into baseness." To give any chance therefore for the
operations of patriotism, we must smother that obtrusiye thing
called self; and by taking away, or rendering power uncertain
and fugitive, we must, with pious humility, endeavour to de-
liver ourselves from temptation.
I am aware of the oflfence which may be given by these ob-
servations; but I will not now begin to cajole, when I have
foregone beyond redemption, what might once have been ga'ined
by it. Having spoken truth so long, I will persevere to the end ;
nor, though fully admitting that by a virtuous use of the govern-
ment we possess, we may become the most happy people apon
earth, am I at all disposed to conceal, that by the nefarioas po-
licy in fashion, we are in a fair way of rendering ourselves the
most miserable. One of its fundamental maxims, and, to all
appearance, its most favourite one, is, that Britian must be de-
stroyed. A power which is evidently the world's last hope
against the desolating scene of universal slavery.* A coant^
too, which in the language of a native American, who tells us,
he had entertained the common prejudices against her, presents
^^ the most beautiful and perfect model of public and private
prosperity, the most magnificent and at the same time, most
solid fabric of social happiness and national grandeur. And yet
all this is to be demolished, because some thirty years ago,t we
were engaged with her in a contest, which, so far as indepen-
dence is implicated, appears now to have been a truly ^ unpro-
fitable one.' But God forbid that the long-lived malice of Mr.
Jefferson, should be gratified ! And the deprecation is equally
extended to his successor, should he unhappily harbour the same
pitiable rancour. If these gentlemen, during the war, have had
their nerves too rudely shocked by the invader, to be able to
recover their propriety, or to adhere to the assurance given in
* If Uiere is any thing degrading in. this sentiment, we may thank ourselves for
afibrding ground for it. For it is absurd to talk of fighting, where empty trei-
■ories are preferred to fall ones, where cowardice has been inculcated both by
maxims, and dences, and where the people have been taught to beHeTe,tbattanp
lion is oppression.
t It will be recollected that these Memmrs were first printed in the year
1811.- Ed.
BEFLECTI0N8. 407
the Declaration of Independence, of considering the English as
'^friends in peace, and only enemies in war," they ought to re-
flect, that it is not strictly patriotic, to risk the ruin of their
country, to obtain revenge. Or, if they are only unluckily com-
mitted, through a prodigality of stipulation, for the sake of dear
Louisiana — God send them a good deliverance, or at least their
country a happy riddance, both of the vender and vendees.
That England has long been, and still is fighting the battle of
the civilized world, I hold it to be an incontrovertible truth.*
The observation I know to be trite, but I am not a servile fol-
lower in the use of it. So long ago as the year 1797, 1 was the
author of the following sentiment in Mr. Fenno's Gazette. ^*As
to Great Britian, with all her errors and vices, and little perhaps
as America may owe her, considering the situation in which she
has been fortuitously placed by the dreadful convulsions of Eu-
rope, so far from wishing her downfall, I consider her preserva-
tion as of real importance to mankind ; and have long looked
upon her as the barrier betwixt the world and anarchy." t The
* The reader must ttill bear in mind the period at which this was written.
Napoi^on, ** the Conqaerer of Nationi," occupied the throne of France, and was
waging hia yet successful war against the dynasties of ^* out- worn Europe.'*
England was not fighting the **batUe of the civilized world;" she was fighting
for its mattery. During all the early part of that contest down, at least, to the
treaty of tilbit, she was upholding the cause of despotism; and if she afterwards
became involved in a struggle for sel£preservation, it was owing in no inconsi-
derable degree to her own ambition. She has carried her encroachments into
every quarter of the world; and, magnificent as is her now culminating power,
and imposing the reputation and achievements of her statesmen, literati and war-
riors, the spectacle is marred by the consideration that injustice and outrage have
contributed to place her on the lofty eminence which she occupies. Arrogance
and oppression have every where marked her course. No barrier that force or
genius could overthrow, has been permitted to stand between her interests, real
or imaginary, and the rights and liberties of nations. In tlie East, province after
province has been annexed to her possessions, and even the Celestial Empire has
lately yielded to her aggressions. In her passion for aggrandizement and domi*
nion, she has reared an empire upon which the sun never sets ; and an American
may be pardoned some complacency in the reflection, that this nation, haughty,
rapacious, and powerful as she is, received her first Material check fh>m the hands
of the Fathers of this Republic— Ed.
t This passage is in an aitiele in the Gazette of the United States of November
lOtb, 1797, signed **A Country Subscriber,'* and is the conclusion of a slight spar-
ring with Mr. Cobbitt, which gentleman, by the bye, has given a notable in-
406 BEFLECTIOVS.
seDtiinent was then in me an original conception, I had never
heard it before, if ever it had been uttered. It has unceasingly
been among my strongest convictions, with the modification,
that she is now our protection from despotism ; and it is there*
fore natural, that I should be gratified by the very able aod
valuable pamphlet which Mr. Walsh has presented to bis coiui-
try.* It is to be wished it may be read as well as the other
writings he is submitting to us, with candour and a proper feel-
ing for the general interest, not merely of this nation, but of
mankind. In contemplating the enormities of the time, it is re-
markable, that we can only find matter for illustration, in the
poets who flourished amid the confusions which prevailed in the
decline of the Roman empire. Thus, Mr. Walsh has frequent
recourse to Claudian, whose poem in Rufinum very forcibly d^
stance of bis candour in hia Sdeetions from Porcupine'$ Gaxetie^ pablithing
herein my attack and his answer to it, bat wholly suppressing this rejoinder.
* ** A Letter on the Genius and Dispositions of the French GrorernmeDt,'
published in 1610.
Jeffrey, in his review of Ma. Wa.lsb*s ** Appeal from ihe JudgmenU cf Gntt
Britain reapeeting the Vniied SitatM of Ameriea^^ mentions this pamphlet in
cordial terms of praise, — he styles it " a work of great merit, which attracted
much notice, both in Great Britain and America.** • * • **The author, in a
strain of g^reat eloquence and powerful reasoningf, exhorts his country to make
common cause with England in the great straggle in which she was then en-
gaged with the giant power of Bonapartb, and points out the many circumstasees
in the character and condition of the two countries that invited them to a cordial
alliance.*' Within two years, however, afler the publication of this eloqoeot
exhortation to an ** aUtance,** the overweening insolence, and wanton outraget of
England upon the rights of American citizens, forced the country, all unprepared
as she was, into the Madisonian War ! That struggle taught our haughty and
hereditary foe, that she could not always expect to be invincible, and the recollec-
tion of its early disasters and subsequent triumphs will nerve the Americao heart
for future trials, if, unhappily, they should become necessary for the preicrvatioti
of the national integrity and honour; and for the advancement of the principiei
which are identified with the American name. The question ooDcemin; Otfoos
— ^prematurely agitated by the party President of the day, may yet, perchance,
afford cause for rupture, leaving still unsettled this absorbing question of the timea,
and serving to revive Uie slumbering animosity which mutual interesta have al-
layed but not eradicated. For the honour of human nature, and in deference to
the peaceful spirit and tendencies of the age, it is to be hoped that a resort to bar-
barous usage in the settlement of this great disputet may be avoided ; bat the
pretensions of England are put forth with characteristic disregard of jo*t<<* '
and these pretensions it conceras the national honour strenuously to ttAf^-^^
BSFLECTIONS. 409
picts the dark atrocities of a ferocious and despotic usurpation,
which, though acted on an infinitely smaller theatre than that of
the present day, had those dismaying appearances vrhlch so over-
power and confound the mind, as to perplex it, even with doubts
of an overruling Providence.*
I have dipped deeper into politics than I intended, or conceived
would be necessary at my outset: but without an obvious de-
parture from the declared design of my work, and a dereliction of
the sacred duty which every annalist owes to the world, the sub-
ject, however trite and unpleasant, could not be avoided ; and
much as I dwell upon it, it yet forms but a very imperfect sketch
of our public transactions. It has relieved me, however, from a
detail of my own personal concerns, which being made up of the
common occurrences of still life, chequered as usual with good
and with evil, it would be highly arrogant in me to suppose could
be in any degree worthy of the public attention. I shall only
advert to them, therefore, for the smgle purpose of mentioning,
that my mother, who has acted no inconsiderable part in my nar-
rative, finished, under my roof, a long and well spent life, pro*
tracted to her seventy-eighth year, on the 23d of January, 1807.
Her excellent constitution sunk under the republican havoc on her
family : her first symptom of decay followed close upon it ; and
she fell a martyr, in all probability, to the ever memorable triumph
of what has been impiously called. The triumph of good princi*
pies. Perhaps, however, she had lived long enough.
Of the part I have acted in this turbulent scene, the reader is
truly informed. Whether it was wise or unwise, I will take upon
me to say, it was conscientious and disinterested. Yet it certainly
makes but a very sorry figure at an era so distinguished for rapid
acquisitions of fortune and dignity. To have commanded a com*
pany in the Continental army at the age of three and twenty, and
not to have advanced an inch in the glorious career of personal
aggrandizement, makes good, I think, my promise of negative
instruction; and I must be as velry a wretch in the eyes of the
* Thas expressed in the op^iliDg of the poem ;
diBpe mihi dubiam traxit tentcDtia meotem
Curarent duperi terras, an nollus ioesset
l^eeior, et ince^to flaerent odortalia casut
36
410 REFLECnOKS.
aspiring, as was the unambitious Richard Cromwell in those of the
Prince of Conti — Why even the imperial Napoleon himself had
scarcely a fairer prospect, when making his debut as an artilleiist
before the walls of Toulon.
Then, *^ what a rogue and pleasant ilaTe am I !**
Nevertheless, with respect to the glory acquired by what may be
termed civic accomplishments y I have some ragged pride in making
it known, that my insignificance, is not so much owing to an ab-
solute ignorance of the game, as to a want of the nerve that is
necessary for playing it to advantage. Though unambitious of
philosopfdc fame, I have no desire to pass for a simpleton; and
therefore wish it to be understood, that I am not to learn, that this
revolution business and republicanism, with whatever purity begun,
has nearly issued in a scramble, in which all morality and even
decency being thrown aside, he is the cleverest fellow, that, by
trick or violence can emerge the fullest handed. I regret that I
am obliged to say so. I would much rather be the encomiast
than the satirist of my country, which I have no doubt contains so
ample a portion of manly sentiment, as, under better auspices, to
etititle it to a lofty strain of panegyric.
But it will be said I am a party-man ; and as all party-men aie
prejudiced, these censures must go for nothing. I am indeed a
party-man, as I conceive there is a right and wrong in politics as
in other things : I freely admit it too that I am prejudiced, to a
great degree ; but all my prejudices,^ I trust, are in favour of
honesty and &ir dealing, and where these appear, no one has
more toleration for error. This is an indulgence I may have need
of myself; but I reflect with satisfaction, that among my fiiults,
I have no act of deceit, injustice or oppression, (for I have some-
times had a little power) to reproach myself with ; and this I say
without fear of contradiction. I have some reliance too that those
who know me, even of the opposite political party, will give me
credit for general good intention, and openness of character; and
this granted, I ask no quarter for my sentiments. If they are
erroneous and unfounded, let them be scouted andl exposed; I
REFLECTIONS. 411
shall be among the first to condemn them if persuaded of their
Maity.
And I here recognise with suitable feelings, the liberal and un-
sought patronage to this undertaking, from many of my neigh-
bours and townsmen, with whose political conduct and opinions,
mine have generally been in collision. If I have been less ac-
commodating to their sentiments, than I could have wished, they
will read my apology in the tenor of my performance, which does
not merely purport to speak with plainness, but manifest^, I pre-
sume, that it has done so in reality, without respect to parties or
to persons. I have occasionally, I am sensible, expressed myself
with some asperity ; with more, perhaps, than may be thought
congenial to the nature of my work ; but this must be attributed
to my awful impression of the dangers which surround us, and a
solemn apprehension, that all the advantages of our situation are
about to be sacrificed to a profligate rage for place and party
supremacy,
412 CONCLUSION.
CONCLUSION.
Thus, uncalled for, have I ventured upon a pretty full account,
both of my life, and my opinions. Of the value of either, it is not
for me to judge ; but as it was my lot to enter upon manhood
just at the commencement of the Revolution, and to be a witness
of its progress, its consummation, and its consequences, it ap-
peared to me, that the period, if justly delineated, could not be
altogether destitute of instruction : I have endeavoured to depict
it truly ; and, I trust, I have done so, in regard at least to the
phases presented to my vision. The facts I have related, I hare
either witnessed myself, or received on such authority, as leaves
with me little doubt of their correctness ; and my inferences,
though sonxetimes harsh, are always the result of the most
deliberate and candid reflection : Whatever therefore, may be
the errors of my book, they are not those of wilful misrepre-
sentation.
Ample* matter has occurred, since the publication of these
Memoirs, not only to justify the free remarks therein made on
the conduct and character of our democratic leaders, but to war-
rant shafts of moral indignation against their subsequent acts,
keen as were ever hurled from the pen of a Juvenal. But,
politics are at no time a pleasant topic, and their discussion
must necessarily embrace newspaper common-places a hundred
* The obsenrations that follow were found in the handwriting of the author
upon the last pa^ of his private copj of the ** Mkhoirs." It is proper that tbej
should be added here, as they are explanatory of his motives, and, were no doubt,
intended for the position in whieh they are now placed^— >£d.
ooNCLUsioir. 413
times repeated. For these reasons, and the additional one, that
the registry of recent facts, is not the object of the writer, he
spares himself the disagreeable task of tracing the undignified,
pettifogging, mischievous course of the Madisonian policy. He
cannot but felicitate himself, however, upon his good fortune in
meeting with the letters of General Washington* serving as
they' do, to confirm many of his statements which were received
Willi more than distrust,! perhaps, and thought to proceed either
from a misanthropic temper, too hasty observation, or specu-
lative notions of human virtue, graduated on too high a scale,
and thence engendering a disposition to censure unnecessarily.
As to his political opinions and remarks, he will only say in an-,
ticipation of comments, which may probably be made, that how-
ever shocking they may be to many honest, well-meaning, re-
publicans, and however they may tinge with diabolical gall, the
pancreatic juices of that other description of patriots, which no
term can aptly designate but that of Jacobins, he feels pride no
less than confidence in avowing them. Whatever may be their
reception at the present day, he has not the smallest doubt of
their entire orthodoxy in time to come, when the general in-
terests of mankind, not those of a party, when history, not fac-.
tion, shall decide.
** With respect to the freedom taken with private characters,
it was at one time my intention, from knowing it to be the den
sire of some of my best friends, to expunge such passages as
might, in any degree, give pain to the descendants or connexions
of the persons mentioned.. But, on reflecting that each of these
friends would be as tenadous in retaining some, as in suppress-
ing others of the passages; that by suppressing them all, I should
reduce the work to a miserable piece of baldness and stupidity,
and that by diminishing, I should, in regard to those who were
suffered to remain, evince a premeditation that would afford
new cause of ofience, — that, moreover, as I have not presumed
to meddle with what constitutes the real value of character, but,
have merely glanced, at singularities and deficiencies of the
• Since included in the Writinge of Wasbinoton, edited by Mr. SrAKU.— Eo.
t In 18L1, npon the first poblication of the Mkmoim^— Ed.
36*
414 CONTCLUSION.
lighter kind, neither inconsistent with uprightness nor benevo-
lence, and that in these respects, I have made as free with my
own family as that of others, I have, at length, come to the
conclusion, that it will be best and most discreet, to abide by
my first indiscretion.
'< It is unnecessary to pursue the topic; but a curious discus-
sion of it may be found in a discourse of M. Boileau prefixed
to his satires, in which he undertakes to justify his own freedom
by the examples of the ancients, particularly of Horace and of
Persius ; from whom, to be sure, he gives instances, that would,
by no means, comport with the correctness of modern manners.
It would appear, however, that somewhat of this questionable
license is essential to the relish of that description of composi-
tion, termed Memoirs. * To entertain readers,' says Dr. Zim-
merman, Ms, in my opinion, only to deliver freely in writing,
that which in the general intercourse of society, it is impossible
to say either with safety or politeness.' May it not be this,
which renders so agreeable, the apparently unimportant garru-
lity of Montaigne ? Upon the whole, if he has sometimes been
querulous, it has been through the fear of trusting himself to the
vehemence of his feelings, which is apt to hurry him beyond
bounds, when he sees turpitude triumphant. He is not formed
for a miserable, passive, victim of injustice, however gilded by
high authority; and no man, however exalted his station, has yet
presumed, or ever shall presume, to treat him as such, without
feeling his resistance, and the keenest shafts of his resentment."
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX. 417
APPENDIX-
A.
PAGE 23. — Note.
ALEXANDER GRAYDON, ESQ.
The following is copied from papers filed in the office of the
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :
Alexander Gbaydon recommended to be a fi£Ld-offi€£r on
A LIST OF recommendations.
ALEXANDER GRAYDON TO RICHARD PETERS.
April 30th, 1758.
Dear Sir —
I yesterday received a letter firom Richard Walker, Esq.*
dated, the 27th inst. in which he informs me, that he has been
prevailed on to enter his name in the list of officers, to command
the new corps for this province, and that he has ventured to set
my name down also, conjuring me at the same time, in a very
friendly and affectionate manner, not to decline the service at
this time. He farther desires I would communicate my answer
to you without delay.
I have a very great esteem for Mr. Walker, and believe he
will make an excellent officer. I am sure, that he. will act upon
principles that few soldiers do. I sincerely wish I could ac-
company him. I have employed the few hours between the
receipt of his letter, and my present writing, in balancing the
matter within my breast, and considering the position in which
I find myself as to my aflair^ here, and the occasion so pressing,
* This Mr. Walker is marked on the list as having been recommended by Mr.
Allen and Mr. Growdon.
418 APPENDIX.
it would be impossible to put my affairs in order^ to accept suck
an employment. I have come, therefore, to the result, not to
stand in the way of better men.
I was surprised never to have had the least intimation, from
any of my friends, before Mr. Walker's letter, of there being any
thoughts entertained of me. I have never been able to learn what
officers are intended to be made ; into what order the troops are to
be disposed ; or in short, any measures about this whole matter.
Perhaps there was reason for keeping all secret. But I am of
opinion, that had all the measures relative to raising these troops,
been properly planned and published, as in some of our neigh-
bouring provinces has been the case, the service would have
been greatly forwarded. But I write to you as a friend, not a
secretary. In short, there is little encouragement for any to
enter into the service of this province, unless they can support
themselves with the reflection, that virtue is its own reward.
I am, dear sir,
your affectionate friend, and
humble servant
ALEXANDER GRAYDON.
B.
PAGE 42.
DR. LAUCHLAN MACLEANE,
A name, which, from its subsequent association with the qaes*
tion of the authorship of Junius, has acquired considerable pos-
thumous, celebrity. PaiOR, in his excellent Life of Gtoldsmith,
published in 1837, thus writes in reference to Dr. Macleane :
" A fellow student named Kennedy, under the plea of great
distress and a pledge of the speedy arrival of his own remit-
tances, persuaded Goldsmith to become answerable for a portion
of his debts, which, however, failed to be discharged at the
APPENDIX. 419
specified time promised by the debtor. Goldsmith was, in con-
sequence, called upon for payment, but being unable to raise
the amount, was, in turn, obliged to have recourse to the assist-
ance of two fellow-students to escape a dilemma that threatened
his personal liberty. These were men of considerable attain-
ments, and not undistinguished in their respective spheres of life.
One was Dr. Joseph Fenn Sleigh, an amiable and intelligent
Quaker, the school-fellow of Burke, at Ballitoro, the first friend of
Barry the painter, and who died prematurely in 1771, an eminent
physician in Cork. The other was Dr. Lauchlan Macleane, a
former associate in Trinity College, whose career seems to have
embraced many changes of scene, and who afterwards by the
public situations he held, the pamphlets he wrote, a challenge
sent to Wilkes and not accepted, and the party with which he
was connected, drew considerable notice in the political circles
of London between the years 1765 and 1776.
" The son of a gentleman of small fortune in the North of Ire-
land, and bom about the year 1728, he was transferred, at the
age of eighteen, from a school near Belfast, to Trinity College,
Dublin. Here he became known to Burke and Goldsmith, and
proceeding to Edinburgh to study physic, his name appears in
the list of the Medical Society, January 4th, 1754, a year after
that of Goldsmith, by whom he was introduced. He afterwards
Tisited America — whether at first as a private practitioner, or
medical officer in the army, does not appear ; probably, as was
then not unusual, officiating in both capacities. While in this
country he acquired great medical reputation ; followed by its
common attendant, envy, ftom the less fortunate of his brethren;
and an anecdote is told of him at this time, which Almon quotes
in one of his publications, as an instance of what he terms ^ true
magnanimity.' A rival practitioner, extremely jealous of his
success, and who had adopted every means, not excepting the
most unfair, of injuring his credit, was, at length, afflicted by the
dangerous illness of an only son ; and as possessing the first cha-
racter for professional skill, Dr. Macleane was solicited to attend.
His zeal proved unremitting; he sat up with the patient many
nights, and chiefly by his sagacity and indefatigable efforts suc-
ceeded beyond expectation in restoring the young man to health ;
420 APPENDIX.
refusing all consideration for his labours, and saying to his friends,
* Now am I amply revenged.'
*' In 1761, while surgeon of Otway's regiment, quartered at
Philadelphia, a quarrel took place with the Governor, against
whom Macleane, who was a man of superior talents, wrote a
paper distinguished for ability and severity, which drew general
attention. Colonel Barre, subsequently so well known in poli-
tical life, then serving there with his regiment and who was pro-
bably involved in the quarrel, is said to have formed a regard
for him in consequence of the part he took ; but it is more likely
that a previous acquaintance existed, as the Colonel had been
likewise a member of Trinity College. Under the patronage of
this officer he returned to England, renewed his acquaintance
with Burke, and procured an office under government. While
travelling on the continent, in 1766, he proved useful to Bany,
then on his way to Italy, who became known to him through the
introduction of his first patrons, Burke and Dr. Sleigh. Soon
afterwards he became successively private Secretary to Lord
Shelburne, and under Secretary of State for the Southern Depart-
ment, retiring from office with his patron on the dissolution of
the ministry drawn together by the Duke of Graflon. In May,
1771, Lord North gave him the situation of superintendent of
lazarettos, with, as the newspapers of the day state, 'a salary of
JSIOOO a year, and — two pounds per diem travelling expenses.'
In January following, he received the collectorship of Philadel-
phia; this was soon exchanged for an appointment in India,
where he subsequently became a kind of agent to Mr. Hastings.
In that capacity he brought home the Governor General's condi-
tional resignation of office ; yet the latter, with that singxilarity
which often influenced his proceedings in the government of
India, took a speedy opportunity of disavowing both his agent
and his act, although communicated to the Court of Directors in
his own handwriting. In proceeding again to India, intending,
it is said, to take strong measures for an explanation of beha-
viour that seemed to throw censure upon his honesty or honour,
the ship, in which he embarked, foundered, and all on board
perished, with papers seriously criminatory, according to report,
of the administration of Mr. Hastings. Dr. Macleane enjoyed
APPENDIX. 421
the credit of being quick, clear-headed, and well informed ; and
by some was considered as possessing ^ wonderful powers ;' an
impediment in speech precluded him from being useful in Par-
liament, or shining in conversation. His private character for
benevolence and several good qualities stood high in the opinion
of his friends."
His claim to the credit of the authorship of Junius is not
treated with much respect by Mr. Prior, who proves, to his own
satisfaction at least, that they have no real foundation ; but his
reasoning is far from conclusive. It is difficult, in this age of
free and bold discussion, to appreciate either the depth of the
excitement caused by the publication of these celebrated ** Let-
ters," 'or the danger to which discovery would have exposed
their author, who was seldom free from apprehension. Every
artifice, therefore, that would serve to divert attention from their
real author would, naturally, be adopted by him, and the simple
expedient of including himself in a general censure, or even the
employment of the language of praise — would have been per-
fectly justifiable in view of the peculiar circumstances under
which he wrote. Recent alleged discoveries have again con-
nected Dr. Macleane's name, with the authorship of Junius — a
secret too long and mysteriously kept to admit a hope of its
revelation. — Ed.
PAGE 75.
WARREN.
Battle of Bunker's Hill.
The author, in a MS. note, says, ** Hand it should be. I
wrote from recollection not having the print before me. He has
a sword, indeed, in one hand, but not in that employed in the
humane act. But, if General Heath is correct, the whole per-
36
422 APPENDIX.
haps, is bat a fiction of the painter. Heath says that Warren
was killed merely as a spectator, at some distance from tbe com-
batants.''
The scene, as represented by the picture of Tnimball, is un-
doubtedly a poetical license. No such occurrence as is there
described really occurred. Neither is Heath correct in his state-
ment of the circumstances of Warren's death. General Henry
Lee, in his Memoirs, has also fallen into seyeral errors in regard
to the same event, although with a nearer approximation to
truth than Heath or several others who have written upon the
subject. He gives, it is true, just credit to the gallant Prescott
He says, " Warren who fell nobly supporting the action, was the
favourite of the day, and has engrossed the fame due to Prescott
Bunker's Hill too has been considered as the field of battle, when
it is well known that it was fought upon Breed's Hill, the nearest
of the two hills to Boston." " No man," he continues, "re?eres
the character of Warren more than the writer ; and he considers
himself not only doing justice to Colonel Prescott, but perform-
ing an acceptable service to the memory of Warren, who, being
a really great man, would disdain to wear laurels not his own."
The editor of this volume is fortunate in having in his posses-
sion, authentic and interesting data in relation to the " Battle of
Bunker's Hill," and though the information may, by some, be
deemed misplaced here, he will, nevertheless, risk the censure
of the critics. The text affords an opportunity for its introduc-
tion— and Truth, wherever she may alight, should be welcomed
and cherished.
To a MS. of his friend, the late estimable and Reverend Ed-
ward G. Prescott, a grandson of Colonel Prescott of Pepperell,
Massachusetts, commander of the American forces, on the occa-
sion of the memorable battle, the editor is indebted for the fol-
lowing particulars which he has abridged to the limits prescribed
to a note, the interesting facts set forth rendering an apology for
its length unnecessary.
On the 16th of June, 177B, Colonel William Prescott, of Pep-
perell, at his own especial request, received orders to march to
Charlestown in the evening, having under his command his own
regiment, that of Colonels Bridge and Frye, and one hundred and
APPENDIX. 423
twenty men from the Connecticut regiment, together with Cap-
tain Gridley's company of artillery, and two field pieces. The
object of this expedition which was to possess and fortify Bun-
ker's Hill, was to be kept profoundly secret — one day's provision
was distributed among the troops, and sufficient supplies, both
of refreshments and men, were promised him, to be sent in the
morning. The whole number of men under his command,
amounted to about one thousand. Early on the evening of the
memorable 16th of June, these few forces under the command
of Prescott, assembled on the common at Cambridge, where a
blessing upon their expedition was devoutly asked by the Re-
verend President Langdon, of Harvard College. At the con-
clusion of these services. Colonel Prescott led the way towards
Charlestown neck, preceded by two sergeants having dark lan-
terns open only at the rear. He was accompanied by Colonel
Gridley, the Chief Engineer, who was to lay oat the ground — by
the late Governor Brooks, who was, at that time, a Major in
Bridge's regiment, and by Mr. Winthrop. Upon their arrival,
great doubt arose as to which part of the heights it was expedient
to fortify. It has often been asserted that Breed's Hill was se-
lected through mistake — such was not the case. Both that and
Bunker's Hill form a continuous chain, but, at that time, the
name of Bunker was the <mly one given to any part of the height.
The remainder of it might, therefore, properly enough, have
been considered as included in the orders under that genecal
title. At all events, according to the statements of Colonel
Prescott, and of Governor Brooks, a council was called of the
officers, and the subject discussed until very late in the night.
It was by them determined, that the hill now known as Breed? Sj
bat then having no separate name^ was the most suitable for the
purpose, and came within the orders given to Colonel Prescott.
The reasons for this opinion, were sufficiently evident. Bunker's
height was too far from the enemy to annoy their shipping, or to
give our forces any advantage over their army, while the point
selected, was admirably adapted for both purposes. Colonel
Prescott, accompanied by Major Brooks twice went down to the
sea shore to reconnoitre. They could not believe that they were
at the very gates of the enemy's stronghold, and had not been
424 APPENDIX.
perceived. It was, however, so. God had darkened their eyes,
and they heard the British seniry on his rounds, uttering tbe de*
ceitful hail, " all's well !" Morning, however, drew near. The
English man of war, called the Lively^ first discovered our little
band, and opened upon them volley after volley. The enemy
were taken by surprise. High above them, they saw our forti-
fications, commanding them in all their positions, and could
scarcely credit their own senses, that so daring an exploit had
been undertaken. General Gage summoned his officers to a
council of war. All was commotion. The frigates, floatiog
batteries, — the cannon and mortars on Copp*s hill, were each
aiming at our gallant countrymen — still they toiled on. There
was but one moment of doubt, during the time they occu-
pied that proud position. This was when the first man was
killed. A private of the name of Pollard from Billerica was
^e first martyr ; he had ventured in front of the works, and was
struck down by a cannon-shot. Our countrymen, unused to the
sight of violent deaths, then hesitated. Colonel Prescott ordered
his burial at once. The men, headed by the chaplain, demanded
that prayers should be said over him. They were ordered by
the Colonel to disperse to their work, and to bury him immedi-
ately— it was done, but some of the men left the hill, and did not
again return to it. This circumstance depressed them at a time
when all their energies were most needed. Their commander
perceiving it, mounted the breast-works, and continued there in
defiance of the shot of the enemy, giving the necessary directions,
until again their usual spirits had returned to them.
Meanwhile the British were not idle. Gage, with his officen
and others in whom he had confidence, went up to Beacon Hill
to reconnoitre; after having looked through his telescope for
some time, he handed it to a Mr. Willard, a mandamus coun-
sellor, and describing the leader of the American troops as bead
and shoulders above the works, asked him who it was, and if
the rebels would fight. Willard told him, that it was his brother-
in-law, Prescott; " as to his men," said he, " I cannot answer
for them ; but Colonel Prescott mil fight you to the gates o/HellP^
The regiments were intrusted to Colonel Prescott, and tbe ordeis
were transmitted to him alone. Upon him rested the responsi-
APPENDIX. 425
bility ; and that he had the chief command, was acknowledged
on the field by General Warren, the President of the Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts ; who took a gun and cartouch box,
and told him that he had '< come to learn service under a soldier
of experience.'' Alas! that the lesson should have been so short!
Gallant, eloquent, patriotic Warren stepped but on the field of
battle, to be gathered into the harvest of Death ! Not obliged
to be in the way of danger, he volunteered for the good of his
country— and that country will never cease to repay him by a
cherished recollection of his virtues, and an honest pride at the
mention of his name! — Eo.
D.
PAGE 77.
JOHN HANCOCK.
A few years later than the period referred to by our author,
Hancock is thus described by Sullivan, in his interesting and
instructive " Familiar Letters on Public Characters :"
" He will be considered in the history of our country, as
one of the greatest men of his age. How true this may be,
distant generations are not likely to know. He was the son of
a clergyman in Braintree, and was educated at Harvard Col-
lege, and inherited a very ample fortune from his childless
uncle. Hancock left no child. He had a son who died at an
early age from an unfortunate accident. Hancock was sent as
a delegate to Congress in 1774 ; and in consequence of his per-
sonal deportment, and his fame as a patriot, he was elevated,
in an assembly of eminent men, to the dignity of President,
which office he held when the Declaration of Independence
was signed, at which time he was only thirty-nine years of age.
" In June, 1782, Hancock had the appearance of advanced
age, though only forty-five. He had been repeatedly and se-
36*
426 APPENDIX.
verely afflicted with the gout, a disease much more common in
those days than it now is, while dyspepsia, if it existed at all.
was not known by that name. As recollected, at this time,
Mr. Hancock was nearly six feet in stature, and of slender
person, stooping a little, and apparently enfeebled by disease.
His manners were very gracious, of the old style of dignified
complaisance. His face had been very handsome. Dress was
adapted quite as much to be ornamental as useful. Gentlemen
wore wigs when abroad, and, commonly, caps, when at home.
At this time, (June, 1782,) about noon, Hancock was dressed in
a red velvet cap, within which was one of fine linen. The
latter was turned up over the lower edge of the velvet one,
two or three inches. He wore a blue damask gown, lined
with silk ; a white stock, a white satin embroidered waistcoat,
black satin small-clothes, white silk stockings, and red morocco
slippers. It was a general practice in genteel families, to have
a tankard of punch made in the morning, and placed in a
cooler when the season required it Visiters were invited to
partake of it. At this visit, Hancock took from the cooler,
standing on the hearth, a full tankard, and drank first himself,
and then offered it to those present Hancock was hospitable.
There might have been seen at his table, all classes, from grave
and dignified clergymen, down to the gifted in song, narration,
anecdote, and wit, with whom * noiseless falls the foot of Time,
that only treads on flowers.* There are more books, more
reading, more thinking, and more interchange of thoughts de-
rived from books and conversation at present, than there were
fifty years ago. It is to be hoped that society is wiser and
happier than it was, from being better instructed. Some per-
sons may be of opinion, that if social intercourse is on a better
footing now, than formerly, it is less interesting, less cordial
than heretofore. It is not improbable that increase of numbers
and of wealth, tend to make the members of society more sel-
fish ; and to stifle expansive and generous feelings. Modes of
life run into matters of show and ornament ; and it becomes a
serious occupation, to be able to compare condition on advan-
tageous terms.
" Though Hancock was very wealthy, he was too much oc-
APPENDIX. 427
cupied with public affairs to be advantageously attentive to his
private. The times in which he lived, and the distinguished
agency which fell to his lot, from his sincere and ardent devotion
to the patriot cause, engendered a strong self-regard. He was
said to be somewhat sensitive, easily offended, and very uneasy
in the absence of the high consideration which he claimed, rather
as a right, than a courtesy. He had strong personal friends,
and equally strong personal enemies. From such causes arose
some irritating difficulties. He had not only a commanding
deportment, which he could qualify with a most attractive
amenity, but a fine voice, and a highly graceful manner. These
were traits which distinguished him from most men, and quali-
fied him to preside in popular assemblies, with great dignity.
He was not supposed to be a man of great intellectual force
by nature ; and his early engagements in political life, and as the
scenes in which he was conversant, called for the exercise of
his powers only in the public service, he was so placed as not
to have had occasion to display the force of his mind, in that
service, so as to enable those of the present day to judge of it,
excepting in his communications, as Governor of Massachusetts,
to the Legislature.
** If history has any proper concern with the individual
qualities of Hancock, it may be doubtful whether, in these re-
spects, distant generations will know exactly what manner of
man he was. But, as a public man, his country is greatly in-
debted to him. He was most faithfully devoted to her cause, and
it is a high eulogy on his patriotism, that when the British
Government offered pardon to all the rebels, for all their
ofiences, Hancock and Samuel Adams were the only persons
to whom this grace was denied." — Ed.
428 APPENDIX.
E.
PAGE 90.
REVEREND JACOB DUCHE.
Extract from a letter from General Washington to the Presi-
dent of Congress, dated 16th October, 1777: —
"I yesterday, through the hands of Mrs. Ferguson, of
Graham Park, received a letter of a very curious and extraor-
dinary nature from Mr. Duch^, which I have thought proper to
transmit to Congress. To this ridiculous, illiberal performance,
I made a short reply, by desiring the bearer of it, if she should,
hereafter, by any accident, meet with Mr. Duch6, to tell him I
should have returned it unopened, if I had had any idea of the
contents ; observing at the same time, that I highly disapproved
the intercourse she seemed to have been carrying on, and
expected it would be discontinued. Notwithstanding the
author's assertion, I cannot but suspect that the measure did not
originate with him ; and that he was induced to it by the hope
of establishing his interest and peace more effectually with the
enemy."
" Mr. DucHE had married a sister of Mr. Francis Hopkinson,
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who,
when Duchy's letter was written, was at Bordentown, as a
member of the Continental Navy Board. A copy was for-
warded to Mr. Hopkinson, and he wrote a letter to Mr. Duchi
on the subject, which he enclosed to General Washington, that
it might be transmitted to him in Philadelphia through the
regular conveyance of a flag."*
• Sparks* Life and Writing of Waahington.— Eob
APPENDIX. 429
The Editor of these Memoirs is indebted to a friend for a
MS. copy of the celebrated letter of the Reverend Mr. Duch^
to General Washington, with corrections to conform to the
copy revised and published by Mr. Duch6 himself, in the Penn-
sylvania Ledger of the 17th December, 1777. It is as follows :
MR. DUCHE TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
"Philadelphia, October 8, 1777.
"Sib,
" If this letter should find you in council or in the field, before
you read another sentence, I beg you to take the first oppor-
tunity of retiring, and weighing well its important contents.
" You are perfectly acquainted with the part I have taken in
the present unhappy contest. I was indeed among the first to
bear my public testimony against having any recourse to threats,
or even indulging a thought of an armed opposition. The torrent
soon became too strong for my feeble efforts to resist I wished
to follow my countrymen, as far only, as virtue and the
righteousness of their cause would permit me. I was, however,
prevailed upon, among the rest of my clerical brethren, to gratify
the pressing desire of my fellow-citizens, by preaching a sermon
to one of the city battalions. I was pressed to publish this ser-
mon, and reluctantly consented. From a personal attachment
of near twenty years' standing, and a high respect for your
character, in private as well as in public life, I took the liberty
of dedicating it to you. I had your affectionate thanks for my
performance, in a letter wherein you express, in the most deli-
cate and obliging terms, your regard for me, and your wishes
of a continuance of my friendship and approbation of your
conduct
"Farther than this I intended not to proceed. My sermon
speaks for itself, and utterly disclaims the idea of independency.
Afy sentiments were well known to my friends. I communicated
them without reserve, to many respectable members of Con-
gress, who expressed a warm approbation of them. I persisted
to the very last moment in using the Prayers for my Sovereign
430 APPENDIX.
and Royal Family, though threatened with insult from the vio-
lence of a party.
" Upon the Declaration of Independency I called my vestry
and solemnly put the question to them, whether they thought it
best, for the peace and welfare of the congregations, to shut up
the churches, or to continue the service without using the
prayers for the royal family. This was the sad alternative. 1
concluded to abide by their decision, as I could not have time
to consult my spiritual superiors in England. They determined
it most expedient, under such critical circumstances, to keep
open the churches, that the congregations might not be dis-
persed, which we had great reason to apprehend.
" A very few days after the fatal Declaration of Independence,
I received a letter from Mr. Hancock, sent by express to Ger-
mantown, where my family were for the summer season, ac^
quainting me that I was appointed Chaplain to the Congress,
and desired to attend them at nine o'clock the next momingi
Surprised and distressed by an event I was not prepared to ex-
pect—obliged to give an immediate answer, without the oppor-
tunity of consulting my friends, I rashly accepted the appoint-
ment I could have but one motive for taking this step. I
thought the churches in danger, and hoped by these means to
have been instrumental in preventing those ills I had so much
reason to apprehend. I can, however, with truth declare, that
I then looked upon independency rather as an expedient, and a
hazardous one indeed, thrown out in terrorem, in order to pro-
cure some favourable terms, than a measure that was to be
seriously persisted in at all events. My sudden change of con-
duct will clearly evince this to have been my idea of the matter.
" Upon the return of the Committee of Congress, appointed to
confer with Lord Howe, I soon discovered their real intentions.
The different accounts which each member of the committee
gave of this conference, the time they took to make up the
matter for public view, and the amazing disagreement betwixt
the newspaper accounts and the relation I myself had from the
mouth of one of the committee, convinced me that there must
have been some unfair and ungenerous procedure. Their de-
termination to treat on no other gi'ound than that of indepen-
APPENDIX. 431
dency, which put it out of his lordship*s power to mention any
terms at all, was a sufficient proof to me that independency was
the idol they had long wished to set up, and that rather than
sacrifice this, they would deluge this country in blood.
" From this moment I determined upon my resignation, and
in the beginning of October, 1776, sent it in form to Mr. Han-
cock, after having officiated only two months and three weeks;
and from that time, as far as my safety would permit, I have
been opposed to all their measures. This circumstantial account
of my conduct, I think due to the friendship you were so oblig-
ing as to express for me, and I hope will be sufficient to justify-
any seeming inconsistencies in the part I have acted.
" And now, dear Sir, suffer me in the language of truth and
real affection to address myself to you. All the world must be
convinced that you are engaged in the service of your country
from motives perfectly disinterested. You risked every thing
that was dear to you. You abandoned all those sweets of do-
mestic life of which your affluent fortune gave you the uninter-
rupted enjo3rment. But had you ? could you have had the least
idea of matters being carried to such a dangerous extremity as
they are now ? Your most intimate friends at that time shud-
dered at the thoughts of a separation from the mother country ;
and I took it for granted that your sentiments coincided with
theirs. What have been the consequences of this rash and
violent measure ? A degeneracy of representation — confusion
of counsels — blunders without number. The most respectable
characters have withdrawn themselves, and are succeeded by
a great majority of illiberal and violent men.
" Take an impartial view of the present Congress, and what
can you expect from them T Your feelings must be greatly
hurt by the representation from your native province. You
have no longer a Randolph, a Bland, or a Braxton ; men whose
names will ever be revered, whose demands never arose above
the first ground on which they set out, and whose truly generous
and virtuous sentiments I have frequently heard with rapture
from their own lips. O my dear Sir, what a sad contrast I
Characters now present themselves whose minds can never
mingle with your own. Your Harrison alone remains, and he
432 APPENDIX.
disgusted with his unworthy associates. As to those of my
own province, some of them are so obscure that their very
names never met my ears before, and others have only been dis*
tinguished for the weakness of their understandings and the vio*
lence of their tempers. One alone I except from the general
^ charge. A man of virtue dragged reluctantly into their mea-
sures, and restrained by some false ideas of honour from re*
tracting, after having gone too far. You cannot be at a loss to
discover whose name answers to this character.
" From the New England Provinces can you find one that
as a gentleman you could wish to associate with 7 unless the
soft and mild address of Mr. Hancock can atone for his want
of every other qualification necessary for the station he fills.
Bankrupts, attorneys, and men of desperate fortunes are his
colleagues.
"Maryland no longer sends a Tilghman and a Protestant
Carroll. Carolina has lost its Lynch, and the elder Middleton
has retired.
** Are the dregs of a Congress then still to influence a mind
like yours? These are not the men you engaged to serve.
These are not the men that America has chosen to represent
her now. Most of them were elected by a little low faction,
and the few gentlemen that are among them, now well known
to be upon the balance, and looking up to your hand alone to
move the beam. 'Tis you, Sir, and you alone that supports
the present Congress. Of this you must be fully sensible. Long
before they left Philadelphia, their dignity and consequence
was gone. What must it be now, since their precipitate re-
treat? I write with freedom, but without invective. I know
these things to be true. I write to one whose own observation
must have convinced him that they are so.
•* After this view of Congress, turn to your army. The whole
world knows that its very existence depends upon you, that
your death or captivity disperses it in a moment, and that there
is not a man on that side of the question in America, capable
of succeeding you. As to the army itself, what have you to
expect from them 1 Have they not frequently abandoned even
yourself in the hour of extremity? Have you» can you bave^
APPENDIX. 433
the least confidence in a set of undisciplined men and officers,
many of whom have been taken from the lowest of the people,
without principle and without courage. Take away those that
surround your person, how few are there that you can ask to
sit at your table 1
•* Turn to your little navy— of thai little, what is left ? Of the
Delaware fleet, part are taken, the rest must soon surrender.
Of those in the other Provinces, some taken, one or two at sea,
and others lying unmanned and unrigged in their harbours.
"And now where are your resources? O, my dear Sir! how
sadly have you been abused by a faction void of truth and void
of tenderness to you and your country ! They have amused you
with hopes of a declaration of war on the part of France. Be-
lieve me from the best authority, it was a fiction from the first
Early in the year 1776, a French gentleman was introduced to
me, with whom I became intimately acquainted. His business,
to all appearance, was to speculate in the mercantile way. But
I believe it will be known that in his own country he moved in
a higher sphere. He saw your camp. He became acquainted
with all your military preparations. He was introduced to
Congress, and engaged with them in a mercantile contract.
In the course of our intimacy he has frequently told me he
hoped the Americans never would think of independency. He
gave me his reasons : * Independency,* said he, * can never be
supported unless France should declare war against England.
I well know the state of her finances ; years to come will not
put them in a situation to venture upon a breach with England.
At this moment there are two parties in the Court of Versailles,
one enlisted under the Due de Choiseul, the other under Count
Maurepas. Choiseul has no chance of succeeding. He is
violent for war. Maurepas must get the better. He is for
economy and peace.' This was his information which I men-
tioned to several members of Congress. They treated it as a
fable, depending entirely on Dr. Franklin's intelligence. The
truth of the matter is this : Dr. Franklin built upon the success
of Choiseul. Upon his arrival in France, he found him out of
place, his counsels reprobated, and his party dwindled to an
insignificant faction. This you may depend upon to be the
37
434 APPENDIX.
•
true state of the Court of France. And further, by vast
numbers of letters found on board prizes taken by the King's
ships, it appears that all commerce ivith the merchants of
France, through whom alone your supplies have been con-
veyed, will soon be at an end, the letters being full of complaints
of no remittances from America, and many individuals having
greatly suffered.
" From your friends in England, you have nothing to expect
Their numbers are diminished to a cipher. The spirit of the
whole nation is in full activity against you. A few sounding
names among the nobility, though perpetually rung in your ears,
are said to be without character, without influence. Disappointed
ambition, I am told, has made them desperate, and they only wish
to make the deluded Americans instruments of their revengCi
All orders and ranks of men in Great Britain, are now unani-
mous, and determined to risk their all on the contest Trade
and manufactures are found to flourish ; and new channels are
continually opening, that will, perhaps, more than supply the oE
In a word, your harbours are blocked up, your cities fall one
after another, fortress after fortress, battle after battle is lost A
British army, after having passed almost unmolested through a
vast extent of country, have possessed themselves with ease of
the Capital of America. How unequal the contest now ! How
fruitless the expense of blood !
"Under so many discouraging circumstances, can virtue, can
honour, can the love of your country prompt you to persevere.
Humanity itself (and sure I am humanity is no stranger to your
breast) calls upon you to desist Your army must perish for
want of common necessaries, or thousands of innocent families
must perish to support them. Wherever they encamp the
country must be impoverished. Wherever they march the
troops of Britain will pursue, and must complete the devastation
which America herself has begun.
" Perhaps it may be said that ' it is better to die than to he
slaves.' This, indeed, is a splendid maxim in theory; and,
perhaps, in some instances, may be found experimentally true.
But where there is the least probability of an happy accommo-
dation, surely wisdom and humanity call for some sacrifices to
APPENDIX. 435
be made to prevent inevitable destruction. You well know
that there is but one invincible bar to such an accommodation ;
could this be removed other obstacles might readily be over-
come. 'Tis to you, and you alone, your bleeding country
looks, and calls aloud for this sacrifice. Your arm alone has
strength sufficient to remove this bar. May Heaven inspire
you with the glorious resolution of exerting this strength at so
interesting a crisis, and thus immortalizing yourself as friend
and guardian of your country.
^ Your penetrating eye needs not more explicit language to
discern my meaning. With that prudence and delicacy, there*
fore, of which I know you to be possessed, represent to Con-
gress the indispensable necessity of rescinding the hasty and
ill-advised Declaration of Independency. Recommend, and
you have an undoubted right to recommend, an immediate
cessation of hostilities. Let the controversy be taken up where
that Declaration left it, and where Lord Howe certainly ex-
pected to find it. Let men of clear and impartial characters,
in or out of Congress, liberal in their sentiments, heretofore
independent in their fortunes (and some such may surely be
found in America), be appointed to confer with His Majesty's
Commissioners. Let them, if they please, prepare some well-
digested constitutional plan, to lay before them as the com-
mencement of a negotiation. When they have gone thus far,
I am confident that the most happy consequences will ensue.
Unanimity will immediately take place through the diflferent
Provinces. Thousands who are now ardently wishing and
praying for such a measure, will step forth and declare them-
selves the zealous advocates of constitutional liberty, and mil-
lions will bless the Hero that left the field of war to decide this
most important contest with the weapons of wisdom and
humanity.
"O! Sir, let no false ideas of worldly honour deter you from
engaging in so glorious a task. Whatever censures may be
thrown out by mean and illiberal minds, your character will
rise in the estimation of the virtuous and noble ; it will appear
with lustre in the annals of History, and form a glorious con-
trast to that of those who have sought to obtain conquests and
4d6 APPENDIX.
gratify their own ambition by the destructioo of their species
and the ruin of their country.
" Be assured. Sir, that I write not this under the eye of any
British officer, or person connected with the British army or.
ministry. The sentiments I express are the real sentiments of
my own heart ; such as I have long held, and which I should
have made known to you by letter before, had I not fully ex-
pected an opportunity of a private conferenca When yoa
passed through Philadelphia on your way to Wilmington, I was
confined by a severe fit of the gravel to my chamber. I bafe
since continued so much indisposed, and times have been so v^
distressing, that I had neither spirit to write a letter, nor oppor-
tunity to convey it when written. Nor do I yet know by what
means I shall get these sheets to your hand.
<* I would fain hope that I have said nothing by which your
delicacy can be in the least hurt. If I h^ve, I assure you, it
has been without the least intention ; and, therefore* your can-
dolir will lead you to forgive me. I have spoken freely of
Congress and of the Army. But what I have said, is partly
from my own knowledge, and partly from the information of
some respectable members of the former, and some of the best
officers in the latter. I would not oflend the meanest person
upon earth. What I say to you I say in confidence, and to
answer what I cannot but deem a most valuable purpose. I
love my country. I love you. But to the love of truth, the
love of peace, and the love of Gk>d, I' hope I diould be eqabled,
if called to the trial, to sacrifice every other inferior lov&
" If the arguments made use of in this letter, should have so
much influence as to engage you in the glorious work which I
have so warmly recommended, I shall ever deem my success
as the highest temporal favour that Providence could grant ma
Your interposition and advice I am confident would meet widi
a favourable reception from the authority under which you act
If it should not, you have an infallible resource still left. Naoo-
TUTS for America at the head of your Abmt.
" After all it may appear presumption in an individual to ad-
dress himself to you on a subject of such magnitude, or to say
what measures would best secure the interest and welfare of a
APPENDIX. 437
whole continent The friendly and favourable opinion you have
always expressed for me, emboldened me to undertake it, and
(which has greatly added to the weight of this motive) I have
been strongly impressed with a sense of duty upon the occa-
sion, which left my conscience uneasy and my heart afflicted
till I had fully discharged it I am no enthusiast The case
is new and singular to me. But I could not enjoy a mementos
peace, till this letter was written. With the most ardent
prayers for your spiritual as well as temporal welfare, I am,
Your most obedient and
Sincere friend and servant,
(Signed) Jacob Duche.
His Excellency Gen. Washinoton.
OENERAL WASHIirOTON TO FRANCIS HOPKINSON.*
•«Head Qmurten, 21 November, 1777.
" Sib,
^ I am favoured with yours of the 14th instant, enclosing a
letter for the Reverend Mr. Duch& I will endeavour to for-
ward it to him, but I imagine it will never be permitted to
reach his hands. I confess to you, that I was not more sur-
prised than concerned at receiving so extraordinary a letter
from Mr. Duch^, of whom I had entertained the most favour-
able opinion, and I am still willing to suppose, that it was rather
dictated by his fears than by his real sentiments ; but I very
much doubt whether the great numbers of respectable charac-
ters, in the State and Army, on whom he has bestowed the most
unprovoked and unmerited abuse, will ever attribute it to the
same cause, or forgive the man who has artfully endeavoured
to engage me to sacrifice them to purchase my own safety.
*' I never intended to make the letter more public, than by
* Sparks* Lift and Writing! of WuhingUm.— En.
37*
4S8 APPENDIX.
laying it before Congress. I thought this a duty, which I owed
to myself; for, had any accident happened to the army entrusted
to my command, and had it ever afterwards appeared, that such
a letter had been written to and received by me, might it not
have been said, that I had betrayed my country 7 And would
not such a correspondence, if kept a secret, have given good
grounds for the suspicion? I thank you for the favourable
sentiments which you are pleased to express of me, and I hope
no act of mine will ever induce you to alter them. I am, &c.
'' Gborgx Washington."
FRANCIS HOPKINSON TO JACOB DUCHE.*
•• Bordeotown, 14di November, 1777.
** Dear Brother,
" A letter signed with your name, dated at Philadelphia, on
the 8th of October, and addressed to his Excellency General
Washington, is handed about the country. Many copies are
taken, and I doubt not but it will soon get into the press, and
become public throughout the continent. Words cannot express
the grief and consternation that wounded my soul at the sight
of this fatal performance. What infatuation could influence you
to offer to his Excellency an address, filled with gross misrepre-
sentation, illiberal abuse, and sentiments unworthy of a man of
character? You have endeavoured to screen your own weak-
nesses by the most artful glosses, and to apologize to the General
for the instability of your temper, in a manner that I am suit
cannot be satisfactory to your own conscienca
** I could go through this extraordinary letter, and point out
to you truth distorted in every leading part But the world
will doubtless do this with a severity that must be daggers to
the sensibilities of your heart Read that letter over again, and
if possible divest yourself of the fears and influence, whatever
they were, that induced you to pen it Consider its contents
with an impartial eye, and reflect on the ideas it will naturally
* Sparks* Life and Writinge of WBahingtoiL— Fn.
APPENDIX. 4S9
raise in the minds of the multitude. You will then find» that by
a vain and weak effort you have attempted the integrity of one
whose virtue is impregnable to the assaults of fear or flattery,
whose judgment needed not your information, and who, I am
sure, would have resigned his charge the moment he found it
likely to lead him out of the paths of virtue and honour. You
will find that you have drawn upon you the resentment of Con-
gress, the resentment of the army, the resentment of many
worthy and noble characters in England, whom you know not,
and the resentment of your insulted country. You have ven-
tured to assert many things at large of the affairs of England,
France, and America, which are far from being true, and
which, from your contracted knowledge in these matters, it is
impossible for you to be acquainted with. In the whole of your
letter, you have never once recommended yourself to those,
whose favour you seem desirous of obtaining, by expatiating on
the justice or humanity of their conduct, and at the same time
have said every thing that can render you odious to those, on
whom the happiness of your future life must depend.
" You presumptuously advise our worthy General, on whom
millions depend with implicit confidence, to abandon their dear-
est hopes, and with or without the consent of his constituents to
* negotiate for America at the head of his army.* Would not
the blood of the slain in battle rise against such perfidy ? And
with whom would you have him negotiate? Are they not
those, who, without the sanction of any civil, moral, or religious
right, have come three thousand miles to destroy our peace and
property, to lay waste your native country with fire and sword,
and cruelly murder its inhabitants T Look for their justice and
honour in their several proclamations, and look for their huma-
nity in the jails of New York and Philadelphia, and in your
own Potter's Field. The whole force of the reasoning con-
tained in your letter tends to this point : that virtue and honour
require us to stand by truth, as long as it can be done with
safety, but that her cause may be abandoned on the approach
of danger; or, in other words, that the justice of the American
cause ought to be squared by the success of her arms.
'< On the whole, I find it impossible to reconcile the matter and
440 APPENDIX.
style of this letter with your general conduct, or with the virtoes
of your heart I would fain hope, notwithstanding your asser-
tion to the contrary, that you wrote it with a bayonet held to
your breast, by order of the unprincipled usurpers of your native
city. But my chief motive for writing to you at this time is to
assure you, that I firmly believe that our just defensive war
will be crowned with success, and that we shall ere long retam
to our habitations in Philadelphia. I would, therefore, most
earnestly warn you to evade the dismal consequences of yoor
ill-judged address to our beloved (Tcneral. Do all you can to
wipe off, if possible, its unhappy effects. I tremble for you, for
my good sister, and her little family. I tremble for your per-
sonal safety. Be assured I write this from true brotherly love.
Our intimacy has been of a long duration, even from our early
youth ; long and uninterrupted, without even a rub in the way;
and so long have the sweetness of your manners, and the inte-
grity of your heart, fixed my affections.
" I am perfectly disposed to attribute this unfortunate step to
the timidity of your temper, the weakness of your nerves, and
the undue influence of those about you. But will the world
hold you so excused ? Will the individuals you have so freely
censured and characterized with contempt have this tenderness
for you T I fear not. They will only judge of your conduct by
its rashness, and proportion their resentment to their sensibility
of the wounds you have given. I pray (rod to inspire you with
some means of extricating yourself from this embarrassing diffi-
culty. For my own part, I have well considered the principles
on which I took part with my country, and am determined to
abide by them to the last extremity. I beg my love to my good
mother, and my affectionate sisters. I often think of them with
great pain and anxiety, lest they should suffer from the want of
those necessary supplies, that are now cut off. May God pre-
serve them and you in this time of trial. I am, &c.
« Francis HopKnrsoir.''
APFKNDIZ. 441
JACOB DUCHB TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.*
** Aiylam, Lambeth, 3 April, 1783.
" Sir,—
^* Will your Excellency condescend to accept of a few lines
fronn one, who ever was and wishes still to be your sincere
friend, who never intentionally sought to give you a moment's
pain, who entertains for you the highest persona] respect, and
would be happy to be assured under your own hand, that he
does not labour under your displeasure, but that you freely for-
give what a weak judgment, but a very affectionate heart, once
presumed to advise? Many circumstances, at present unknown
to you, conspired to make me deem it my duty to write to you.
Ignorance and simplicity saw not the necessity of your divulg-
ing the letter. I am convinced, however, that you could not, in
your public station, do otherwise. I cannot say a word in vin-
dication of my conduct but this, that I had been for months
before distressed with continual apprehensions for you and all
my friends without the British lines. I looked upon all as gone;
or that nothing could save you, but rescinding the Declaration
of Independency. Upon this ground alone I presumed to speak ;
not to advise an act of base treachery, my soul would have re-
coiled from the thought ; not to surrender your army, or betray
the righteous cause of your country, but, at the head of that
army, supporting and supported by them^ to negotiate with
Britain for our constitutional rights.
" Can you then join with my country in pardoning this error of
judgment? Will you yet honour me with your great interest
and influence, by recommending, at least expressing your appro-
bation of the repeal of an act, that keeps me in a state of banish-
ment from my native country, from the arms of a dear aged
father, and the embraces of a numerous circle of valuable and
long-loved friends? Your liberal, generous mind, I am per-
suaded, will never exclude me wholly from your regard for a
mere political error; especially, as you must have heard, that,
since the date of that letter, I have led a life of perfect retirement,
* Sparks* Life and Writingi of Washiii|rton.— Ed.
442 AFPKHDIX.
and since my arrival in England have devoted royaelf wholly
to the duties of my profession, and confined my acquaintance to
a happy circle of literary and religious friends.
^ I have written to my father and to many of my fnends
largely on this subject, requesting them to make such application
to the State of Pennsylvania in my behalf, as may be judged
necessary and expedient Should this application be honoured
with success, I know of nothing that would more effectually
satisfy my desires in a matter of such importance to myself
and my family, as a line or two from your Excellency, expres-
sive of your approbation of my return. Temporal emoluments
are not wanting to induce me to remain for life on this side of
the Atlantic. I have been most hospitably received and kindly
treated by all ranks of people, and I should be ungrateful not to
acknowledge in the strongest terms my obligations to those who
have placed me in the easy and comfortable situation I now
enjoy. It is not necessity, therefore, but unaherable affection to
my native countiy, that urges me to seek a return. With every
good wish and prayer for your best felicity, and my most hearty
congratulations on the happy event of peace, I have the honour
to be your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant,
"Jacob Duche."
oeneeal wasmnoton to jacob duche.
••Head Qnarten, 10 Aopift, 1783.
" SlE,
" I have received your letter of the 2d of April, and, reflecting
on its contents, I cannot but say that I am heartily sorry for the
occasion which has produced it Personal enmity I bear none
to any man. So far, therefore, as your return to this country
depends on my private voice, it would be given in favour of it
with cheerfulness. But, removed as I am from the people and
policy of the State in which you formerly resided, and to whose
determination your case must be submitted, it is my duty, what-
ever may be my inclination, to leave its decision to its constitu-
tional judges. Should this be agreeable to your wishes, it can-
not fail to meet my entire approbation. I am, 6lc
" GaoEOB Washxhotok.**
APPENDIX. 443
The laws of Pennsylvania, excluding the refugees from that
State, were not repealed till after the adoption of the Constitu-
tion of the United States. Mr. Duch^ returned to Philadelphia
in the year 1790, much broken in health, having suffered a
paralytic affection. He died in 1794, being then about sixty
years of age.* — ^Ed.
PAGE 117.
JOSEPH GALLOWAY.
The seventh volume of Sparks* edition of the works of
J^ranklin contains, in a note, the following biographical notice
of Mr. Galloway, from the pen of Mr. J. Francis Fisher, of
Philadelphia: —
" Joseph Galloway, son of Peter Galloway, was bom in the
neighbourhood of West River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland,
about the year 1730. As his family was respectable and of
good fortune, his education was probably the best that could be
obtained in the middle colonies. He came early in life to
Philadelphia, where he commenced the practice of the law, in
which he attained eminence. In the year 1757, he was elected
to the Assembly for the County of Philadelphia, and immediately
took a prominent stand in that body, being a member of most
of the committees, and constantly employed in public duties, as
we find, in the votes^ by his compensation for extra services.
The next year he was chairman of the committee on grievances,
and managed the prosecution of Dr. Smith and Mr. Moore for
a libel on the Assembly. In subsequent years he held the same
place; and his Report, in 1764, on the state and grievances of
the province, was the occasion of his well-known speech pub-
• Spwks' lift and Writing! of Washington.— Ed.
444 APPBNinz.
lished with Dr. Franklin's Preface, in answer to one of the
celebrated John Dickinson.
" He sided with Dr. Franklin in opposition to the Proprielary
interest^ and urged the resumption of the Government by the
Crown. And though, on this account in 1764 he lost his elec-
tion in the county, he was, the next year, returned a member,
and was chosen Speaker of the Assembly, to which office be
was successively re-elected till the year 1774.
" In 1767 he was one of the agents of Pennsylvania at the
treaty with the Indians at Easton. In the next year, as one of
the commissioners under the act for granting one hundred thou-
sand pounds, he entered into a controversy with the Governor,
which may be seen at length in the votes, and (Jordon*s History.
What were his powers as a speaker tradition does not say, but
he led the popular party in all their attacks upon the Proprietary
interest ; and was so highly esteemed by them, that they dele-
gated him as a member of the General Congress, which met at
Philadelphia, in 1774. Whether he took an active part in their
proceedings does not appear. His name is signed to the de*'
clarations and resolutions ; but he seems to have soon abandoned
the Revolutionary cause, under the influence of his loyal princi-
ples or his sordid fears.
" After the British troops had penetrated into New Jersey, in
1776, on their then intended march to Philadelphia, he was
among those who joined Uie army, previous to the capture of
the Hessians at Trenton. He afterwards accompanied them
on their route by the way of Chesapeake Bay, and with them
entered the city of Philadelphia, in the latter end of September,
1777. Here he was an active agent under Sir William Howe,
the Commander-in-chief of the British forces in A merica. On the
evacuation of Philadelphia, in June, 1778, he went to New York,
where he remained some months, and thence sailed for England,
accompanied by his only daughter, abandoning (according to
his own account) an estate of the value of forty thousand pounds,
which had been confiscated by the Government of Pennsylvania
in pursuance of his proscription and attainder. But the larger
part of this estate, which he held by courtesy, being the in-
heritance of his wife, the daughter of Lawrence Growdon of
APPENDIX* 445
•
Bucks County, (for a long time Speaker of the Provincial
Assembly,) was restored to their daughten It is called Trevose,
and is still owned by his descendants, having continued in the
family since the settlement of Pennsylvania^
** On his arrival in England, Galloway was examined before
the House of Commons on the transactions in America, and his
representations^ which are in print, did not reflect much credit
on the British Commanders^ He published, in 1779, a pamphlet,
entitled. Letters to a Nobleman on the conduct of the war in
the Middle Colonies, in which, notwithstanding his attachments,
he discloses and reprehends the conduct of the British troops,
especially in New Jersey. He also published * A Letter to
Lord Howe,* * A Reply to the Observations of General Howe,*
* Cool Thoughts on the Consequences of American Indepen-
dence,* * Candid Examination of the Claims of Great Britain
and her Colonies,* ' Reflections on the American Rebellion in
1780,* and some other pamphlets. He was, it is believed, a
pensioner of the British Government, and he resided in Eng-
land till the time of his decease, in 1803.**
During the controversy between the friends and opponents
of the Proprietary interests, Galloway and Dickinson took each
an active part *' Each published a speech which he had de-
livered in the Legislative Assembly ; and it was remarkable
that the introduction to each (one written by Dr. Franklin, who
opposed the Proprietary interest, and the other by Dr. Smith
the coadjutor of Dickinson,) were at the time more admired
than the original compositions." — Watson. — ^En.
6.
PAGE 119.
JOHN DICKmgON.
John Dickinson was a native of Maiyland, where he was bom
in 1732. His parents soon afterwards removed to Delaware,
38
446 APPENDIX.
where they educated their son. He read law in Philadelphia,
and, in the farther prosecution of his legal studies, in the Temple
at London. Upon his return to Philadelphia, he commenced the
successful practice of his profession, and was early elected to the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, in which body his aptitude as a
speaker and general tact gave him considerable influence.
" The election of members of legislature, in the autumn of
1764, was," says Sparks, "sharply contested. It turned on the
question of a change of government. The proprietary party,
having much at stake, redoubled their efforts ; and, in the city of
Philadelphia, and some of the counties, they were successful.
Franklin, after having been chosen fourteen years successively,
now lost his election, there being against him a majority of about
twenty-five votes in four thousand. But, after all, it was an
empty triumph. When the members convened, there were two
to one in favour of the measures of the last Assembly, and they
resolved to carry these measures into effect. Being determined
to pursue their object with all the force they could bring to bear
upon it, they appointed Dr. Franklin as a special agent to pro-
ceed to the Court of Great Britain, and there to take charge of
the petition for a change of government, and to manage the gene-
ral affairs of the province. This appointment was a surprise
upon the proprietary party. They had imaged, that, by defeat-
ing his election, they had rid themselves of an active and trouble-
some opponent in the Assembly, and weakened his influence
abroad. When it was proposed, therefore, to raise him to a situa-
tion, in which he could more effectually than ever serve the same
cause, the agitation of the House, and the clamour out of doors
was extreme. His adversaries testified their chagrin by the means
they used to prevent his appointment. John Dickinson, while he
could not refrain from eulogizing him as a man, inveighed stre-
nuously against his political principles and conduct ; at the same
time exhibiting symptoms of alarm, that would seem almost lu-
dicrous, if it were not known what power there is in the spirit of
party to distort truth and pervert the judgment. * The gentleman
proposed,' he says, in a speech to die House, *has been called
here, to-day, a great luminary of the learned world. Far be it
from me to detract firom the merit I admire. Let him still shine.
APPENDIX. 447
but without wrapping his country in flames. Let him^ from a
private station, from a smaller sphere, diffuse, as, I think, he may,
a beneficial light ; but let him not be made to move and blaze
like a comet, to terrify and distress.' When," continues Sparks,
"the second Congress assembled, the relations between the Colo-
nies and Great Britain had assumed a new character. The blood
of American freemen had been shed on their own soil by a wanton
exercise of military power. This rash act dissolved the charm,
which had hitherto bound the affections of many a conscientious
American to the British Crown, under the long revered name of
loyalty. The hour of trial had come. After an animated debate,
which continued for several days, it was declared that hostilities
had commenced, on the part of Great Britain, with the design of
enforcing 'the unconstitutional and oppressive acts of Parliament ;'
and it was then resolved, with great unanimity, that the Colonies
should be immediately put in a state of defence. This was all
that the most ardent friends of liberty desired ; the more mode-
rate party, at the head of which was Dickinson, urged that they
never had anticipated resistance by force, but had always confided
so much in the justice of the British government, as to believe
that they would come to a reasonable compromise. Another op-
portunity ought to be offered, and they were strenuous for sending
a petition to the king.' Its most zealous advocate was John
Dickinson, by whom it was drafted. It has been said, indeed,
that this token of humility was yielded mainly to gratify his
wishes. The uprightness of his character, his singleness of heart,
and the great services he had rendered to his country by his
talents and his pen, claimed for him especial consideration. The
tone and language of the petition were sufficiently submissive,
and it stands in remarkable contrast in the Journals, with other
papers, and the resolves for warlike preparations. Mr. Jefferson
tells us, that Mr. Dickinson was so much pleased when it was
adopted, that he could not forbear to express his satisfaction by
sa}ring : * There is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper,
which I disapprove, and that word is Congress.^ Whereupon
Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, rose and said : * There is but one word
in the paper, Mr. President, which I approve, and that word is
Congress.^ "
448 APPENDIX.
Mr. Dickmson's first publication against the T!ngli»h govem-
ment appeared in 1765. In this year he was appointed a dele-
gate to the Congress held at New York. In 1767, he issued, at
Philadelphia, his celebrated '^ Farmer's Letters," a production
^^ which had great influence in enlightening the nainds of the
American people, on the subject of their rights.'* They were
written with his distinguished ability, against the revenue laws,
and were widely popular with all classes of readers in this coun-
try, for their research, vigour and perspicuity of their style. At
the time of their publication in the United States, Dr. Franklin,
in the discharge of public duties, was in London, where he caused
their re-publication, accompanied by a commendatory preface fit>m
his own pen. "Besides," says Sparks, "the patriotic motive for
this re-publication, it afforded him an opportunity of showing that
the extreme warmth with which Mr. Dickinson had opposed his
appointment in the Pennsylvania Assembly had not produced, on
his part, any diminution of personal regard." These "Letters ^
were translated into Ft-ench and published at Paris.
At length, the great question of National Independence became
the engrossing topic in "newspapers, pamphlets, at public meet-
ings, as well as in private circles. It was evident that a large
majority of the nation was prepared for that measure. Among
the doubters was the virtuous, the patriotic, the able, but irresolute
John Dickinson." His opposition to the Declaration rendering him
unpopular, " he withdrew from the public councils, and did not
recover his seat in Congress until about two years afterwards. He
then returned earnest in the cause of Independence. He was
subsequently President (Governor) of Pennsylvania and Dela-
ware successively, and died at WilqiingtoB, iu February, 1808."
Ed.
APPENDIX. 449
H.
PAGE 144.
GENERAL WASfflNGTON TO PRESIDENT REED.
*«Head Qaartera, PaiBaic Falls, 18th October, 1780.**
"Dear Sir,
" By your farour of the 3d from Bethlehem, I perceive my
letter of the 1st has not got to your hands; but I have the
pleasure to find, that the business you were upon anticipated the
purposes of it, and was in a fair way to answer the end.*
" Arnold's conduct is so villanously perfidious, that there are
no terms which can describe the baseness of his heart. That
overruling Providence, which has so often and so remarkably
interposed in our favour, never manifested itself more conspicu^
ously than in the timely discovery of his horrid design of sur-
rendering the post and garrison of West Point into the hands of
the enemy. I confine my remark to this single act of perfidy ;
for I am far from thinking he intended to hazard a defeat of
this important object, by combining another with it, although
there were circumstances which led to a contrary belief. The
confidence and folly, which have marked the subsequent con-
duct of this man, are of a piece with his villany; and all three
are perfect in their kind. The interest you take in my supposed
escape, and the manner in which you speak of it, claim my
thanks as much as if he had really intended to involve my fate
with that of the garrison, and I consider it as a fresh instance of
your aflTectionate regard for me.
" As I do not recollect ever to have had any very particular
conversation with General Schuyler respecting Arnold, I should
be glad to obtain a copy of the letter in which you say my
* opinion and confidence in him (Arnold) is conveyed in terms
of aflfection and approbation.' Some time before or after Ar-
nold's return from Connecticut (the conversation made so little
* General Washington had written, requesting President Reco to cause to be
sent forward as expeditiously as possible a supply of flour to the army.
38*
450 APPENDIX.
impression on me, that I know not which,) General Schuyler
informed me, that he had received a letter from Arnold, inti-
mating his intention of joining the army, and rendering such
services as his leg would permit, adding that he was incapable
of active service^ but could discharge the duties of a stationary
command without much inconvenience or uneasiness to his leg.
I answered, that, as we had a prospect of an active and vigor-
ous campaign, I should be glad of General Arnold's aid and as-
sistance, but saw little prospject of bis obtaining such a command
as appeared to be the object of his wishes, because it was my
intention to draw my whole force into the field, when we weie
in circumstances to con^mence our operations against New York,
leaving even West Point to the care of invalids,, and a small
garrison of militia; but if, after this previous declaration^ the
command of the post, for the reasons he assigned, would be
more convenient and agreeable to him than a command in the
field, I should readily indulge him, having had it hinted to me,
by a very respectable character,, a member of Congress* (not
General Schuyler,) that a measure of this kind would not be
unacceptable to the State most immediately interested in^ the
welfare and safety of the post.
" This, to the best of my knowledge and recollection, is every
syllable that ever passed between General Schuyler and me re-
specting Arnold, or any of his concerns. The manner and the
matter appeared perfeetly'uninteresting to both of us at the time.
He seemed to have no other view in communicating the thing,
than because he was requested to do it, and my answer, dictated
by circumstances, you already have; but how it was communi-
cated, the letter will show.
'^ That General Schuyler possesses a share of my regard and
confidence, I shall readily acknowledge. A pretty long ac-
quaintance with him, an opbion of hi^ abilities, his intimate
knowledge of our circumstances, his candour as far as I have
had opportunities of forming a judgment of it, added to personal
civilities and proofs of a warm friendship, which I never had a
doubt of, would leave me without excuse, were I to withhold
these from hiou What ascendency he may have over the amy
• Robert R, Li?ingatoD..
APPENDIX. 451
is more than I can tell; but I should not be surprised if he
stands in a foyourable point of view with respect to their esteem.
The means he took to acquire a true knowledge of their dis-
tress while he was with them, the representations he made
to procure relief, and his evident endeavours to promote the
object for which he was appointed, seem to have made this a
natural consequence. I am, dear Sir, &c." — Ed.
I.
FAGE 232.
CAPTURE OF GENERAL CHARLES LEE.
The capture of this eccentric officer occurred on the 13th of
September, 1776, at Baskingridge, New Jersey. It was efiected
by a party of British cavalry under Colonel Harcourt. General
Wilkinson in his ^^ Memoirs " gives the following interesting ac-
count of the event: —
'^ General Lee wasted the morning in altercation with certain
militia corps who were of his command, particularly the Connec-
ticut Light Horse, several of whom appeared in large full-bottomed
perukes, and were treated very irreverently. The call of the Ad-
jutant-General for orders also occupied some of bis time, and we
did not sit down to breakfast before 10 o'clock. General Lee
was engaged in answering a letter from General Gates, and I had
risen from the table, and was looking out of an end window,
down a lane about one hundred yards in length, which led to the
house from the main road, when I discovered a party of British
troops turn the corner of the avenue at full charge. Startled at
this unexpected spectacle, I exclaimed, ^ Here, sir, are the British
cavalry!' * TWierc?' exclaimed the General, who had signed
the letter in the instant. * Around the house ;' for they had
opened files and encompassed the building. General Lee ap-
peared alarmed, yet collected, and his second observation marked
his self-possessio» ? * Where ifr the guard ? — d — ^n the guard, why
452 APPENDIX.
don't tfaey fire ?' and after a momentary pause^ he turned to me
and said ^Do, sir, see what has become of the guard!' The
women of the house at this mom»[it entered the room, and pro-
posed to him to conceal himself in a bed, which he rejected with
evident disgust. I caught up the pistols which lay on the table,
thrust the letter he had been writing into my pocket, and passed
into a room at the opposite end of the house, where I had seen
the guard in the morning. Here I discovered their arms, but the
men were absent. I stepped out of the door, and perceived the
dragoons chasing them in different directions, and receiving a
very uncivil salutation, I returned into the house.
" Too inexperienced immediately to penetrate the motives of this
enterprise, I considered the rericontre accidental, and from the ter-
rific tales spread over the country, of the violence and barbarity
of the enemy, I believed it to be a wanton murdering party, and
determined not to die without company. I accordingly sought a
position where I could not be approached by more than one per-
son at a time, and with a pistol in each hand, I awaited the ex-
pected search, resolved to shoot the first and the second person
who might appear, and then to appeal to my sword. I did not
long remain in this unpleasant situation, but was apprised of the
object of the incursion, by the very audible declaration, ' If the
General does not surrender in five nuntUeSj I will set fire to the
house;^ which, after a short pause, was repeated with a solemn
oath ; and within two minutes, I heard it proclaimed, * Here is
the Generalj he has surrendered.^ A general shout ensued, the
trumpet sounded the assembly, and the unfortunate Lee, mounted
on my horse, which stood ready at the door, was hurried off in
triumph, bareheaded, in his slippers and blanket-coat, his collar
open, and his shirt very much soiled from several day's use.
" What a lesson of caution is to be derived from this event, and
how important the admonition furnished by it ! What an evidence
of the caprice of fortune, of the fallibility of human projects, and
the inscrutable ways of Heaven ! The capture of General Lee,
was felt as a public calamity ; it cast a gloom over the country,
and excited general sorrow. This sympathy was honourable to
the people, and due to the stranger who had embarked his for-
tune with them, and determined to share their fate, un<ler cir>
APPENDIX. 453
camstances of more than common peril. Although diis misfor-
tune deprived the country of its most experienced chief, I have
ever considered the deprivation a public blessing, ministered by
the hand of Providence; for if General Lee had not abandoned
caution for convenience, and taken quarters two miles from his
army, on his exposed flank, he would have been safe ; if a do-
mestic traitor, who passed his quarters the same morning on
private business, had not casually fallen in with Colonel Har-
court, on a reconnoitring party, the GreneraPs quarters would
not have been discovered ; if my visit, and the controversy with
the Connecticut Light Horse, had not spun out the morning un-
seasonably, the General would have been at his camp ; if Colonel
Harcourt, had arrived one hour sooner, he would have found the
guard under arms, and would have been repulsed, or resisted
until succour could have arrived ; if he had arrived half an hour
later the General would have been with his corps; if the guard had
paid ordinary attention to their duty, and had not abandoned
their arms, the General's quarters would have been defended ;
or if he had obeyed the peremptory and reiterated orders of
Greneral Washinotoit, he would have been beyond the reach of
the enemy. And shall we impute to blind chance, such a chain
of rare incidents ? I conscientiously answer in the negative ; be-
cause the combination was too intricate and perplexed, for acci-
dental causes, or the agencies of man. It must have been
designed. So soon as Lieutenant Colonel Harcourt retreated
with his prize, I repaired to the stable, mounted the first hone I
could find, and rode full speed to General Sullivan, whom I found
under march, towards Pluckamin." — £d.
454 APPENDIX.
J.
PAOE 238.
LETTER TO COLONEL REED, OR COLONEL JOHN
CADWALADER, AT BRISTOL.
Camp above Trenton Falls, 23d December, 1776.
Dear Sir,
The bearer is sent down to know whether your plan was
attempted last night, and if not to inform you, that Christmas-
day at night, one hour before day, is the time fixed upon for
our attempt on Trentoa For Heaven's sake, keep this to
yourself, as the discovery of it may prove fatal to us ; our
numbers, sorry am I to say, being less than I had any con-
ception of; but necessity, dire necessity, will, nay must, justify
an attack. Prepare, and, in concert with Griffin, attack as
many of their posts as you possibly can with a prospect of
success ; the more we can attack at the same instant, the more
ponfusion we shall spread, and the greater good will result
from it. If I had not been fully convinced before of the
enemy's designs, I have now Simple testimony of their inten-
»lions to attack Philadelphia, so soon as the ice will afford the
means of conveyance.
As the colonels of the continental regiments might kick up
some dust about command, unless Cadwallader is considered
by them in the light of a brigadier, which I wish him to be, I
desired General Gates, who is unwell, and applied for leave to
go to Philadelphia, to endeavour, if his health would permit
him, to call and stay two or three days at Bristol in his way.
I shall not be particular; we could not ripen matters for an
attack, before the time mentioned in the first part of this letter;
80 much out of sorts, and so much in want of every thing, are
the troops under Sullivan. The letter herewith sent, forward
APPEin)IX.
455
on to Philadelphia; I could wish it. to be in time for the
southern post's departure, which will be, I believe, by eleven
o'clock to-morrow.
I am, dear Sir, &c»
GO. WASHINGTON.
P. S. I have ordered our men to be provided with three
days provisions ready cooked, with which, and their blankets,
they are to march ; for if we are successful, which Heaven
grant, and the circumstances favour, we may push on. I shall
direct every ferry and ford to be well guarded, and not a soul
suffered to pass without an officer's going down with the per-'
mit. Do the same with' you. — ^Ed. /
K.
PAGE 293.
^
eminent danger^
WASHINGTON AT BRANDYWINl
Bisset, in his continuation of Hume and Sm/'
count of the battle of Brandy wine, subjoins iW ^ ... .
/. . , .. m, . T^ /the historian
of a private letter from Major Ferguson — sow , ,.-
of Rome — to his father, from which, it is inj^ '
of General Washington was, on that day,
and absolutely in the power of Major Fergw- , . . if
While this officer lay with a party of hi Jemen on a sk
a wood in front of General Knyphausenyvision, ^'J^^^J^^^^
stance happened of which the letter in qir^°" &^^^
ing account : — / u u Tiv a
" We had not lain long T^hen a rebd^fficer ^^^^'^^^^^^^
Hussar dress, passed towards our armpi*^^ * ^^ , J\
of my right flank, not perceiving us/He was followed by an-
other dressed in dark green and bli* mounted on a goo y
horse, with a remarkable large high /eked hat.
I ordered three
\
\
456 APPENDIX.
good shots to steal near them and fire at them; but the idea dis-
gusted me and I recalled the order." The letter, after some
farther particulars not necessaiy to repeat, states, that it was
afterwards collected ** from some wounded rebel officers, that
General Washington was all that morning with the light troops,
and only attended by a French officer in a Hussar dress, he
himself dressed and mounted in every respect as above de-
sciibed."
In commenting on the above, Mr. Ghraydon, in a note ap-
pended to it, observes, *^ Whatever truth there may be in this
relation, and whoever might have been the person in dark green
and blue with the remarkable large high cocked hat, no one ac-
quainted with the style of Greneral Washington's costume during
I ^ he war, or any other time, can suppose it to have been him, who
\3 so generously dealt with by the Major. The General's uni-
^S or military dress was blue and buff, which, it may be very
^^ averred he never varied, at least to an entire change of
. ^s: neither was he ever seen in a hat of the description
\ &^^\ the letter. It is true, he wore a cocked hat, but, of a
mode^ g^^^ i^ might, indeed, have been somewhat larger
than tha -^ fashion in America at the beginning of the war,
but, it co»^ jjy jjQ means have answered to the colossal dimen-
sions givc^y ^^ Ubjot. The General had too correct a taste
m dress, to i.^^ j^ ^he buUy-like garb of a Bobadil or a Pistol;
and there wa^^^ inducement to such a disguise, being as much
in danger in g.^^ and blue with a large hat, as in blue and buff
with a smaU on< ^ajor Ferguson, therefore, might have spared
himself the self-^^iiulation of 'not knowing at the time who it
was, since, if jusl^ described, most assuredly it was not General
Washington."— li^
AFPBNDIZ. 457
PAGB 320.
THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH.
The Editor is indebted to Mr. Sparls' edition of the " Life
and Writings of Washington," for the frllowing interesting par-
ticulars concerning General Charles Lee, and the Battle of
Monmouth : —
" Soon after General Lee rejoined he army at Valley Forge,
a curious incident occurred. By an #rder of Congress, General
Washington was required to administer the oath of allegiance
to the general officers. The Mfijor-Generals stood around
Washington, and took hold of a BiHe together, according to the
usual custom ; but, just as he begai to administer the oath, Lee
deliberately withdrew his hand t^ce. This movement was so
singular, and was performed in P odd a manner, that the offi-
cers smiled, and Washington infiired the meaning of his hesi-
tancy. Lee replied, * As to KJg George, I am ready enough
to absolve myself from all all^iance to him, but I have some
scruples about the Prince of Tales.' The strangeness of this
reply was such, that the oflcers burst into a broad laugh,
and even Washington could not refrain from a smile. The
ceremony was of course intt^upted. It was renewed as soon
as a composure was restore^ proper for the solemnity of the
occasion, and Lee took the >ath with the other officers. Con-
nected with the subsequent conduct of General Lee, this incident
was thought by some, who^ere acquainted with it, to have a
deeper meaning than at fi*t appeared, and to indicate a less
ardent and fixed patriotisn towards the United States, than was
consistent with the rank a»d professions of the second officer in
command of the Americs* forces.
'* The army having cyssed the Delaware in pursuit of the
458 ApranDiXi
British retreating from Philadelphia, a council of war was held
at Hopewell, Jum 24th, in which, after stating the relative
strength and position of the two armies, the Commander-in-
chief proposed the bllowing questions.
** * Will it be adviiable for us, of choice, to hazard a general
action 1 If it is, skuld we do it by immediately making a
general attack upon Ihe enemy, by attempting a partial one, or
by taking such a posiion, if it can be done, as may oblige them
to attack us? If it ii not, what measures can be taken, with
safety to this army, toannoy the enemy in their march T In
fine, what precise line <f conduct will it be advisable for us to
pursue t'
" Lee was sti-enuouslj opposed to a general action. Being
the highest in rank, art an officer of great experience, the
younger officers were mich influenced by his arguments and
opinions. The council feally decided that a general action
was not advisable, but ih\l < a detachment of fifteen hundred
men be immediately sent ti act, as occasion may serve, on the
enemy's left flank and rearjn conjunction with the other Con-
tinental troops .and militia, who are already hanging about
them, and that the main bodj preserve a relative position, so as
to be able to act as circumstmces may require.' This decision
was signed by all the officci except Wayne. It appeared,
however, that there was a wick difference of opinion as to the
number of men, that ought ti be sent against the enemy,
although the council ultimately ^reed on fifteen hundred. Lee,
Stirling, Woodford, Scott, Knoxiand Poor, were for this num-
ber ; but Steuben, Duportail, \iiyne, Patterson, Greene, and
Lafayette were for twenty-five huiired, or at least two thousand.
It was the idea of some of the offiiers, also, that the detachment
ought to attack the enemy, though not to bring on a general
action; while others believed, that flDthing more should be done,
than to skirmish with the out-guads, and thus harass the re-
treating enemy as circumstances wiuld permit
''After the council was dissolvel, Greene, Lafayette, and
Wayne, wrote separately to the Comiander-in-chief, explaining
more fully their views. They were lot for pushing the enemy
to a general action at all events ; bit they were decidedly of
APPEirMX* 459
opinion, that a large detachment should be sent forward to
attack their rear» and that the main army should be drawn into
such a position as to commence an engagement, should the
prospects be favourable. These views accorded with those of
the Commander-in-chief, and he promptly determined to act in
conformity with them.
From General Lee's rank the ad vance</ detachment fell under
his command, although he was totally <pposed to the measure
adopted. Lafayette went to Washington, reminded him of this
embarrassment, and offered to take command of the attacking
division. Washington said, that such an arrangement would
be entirely agreeable to him, but tha it could not be effected
without the previous consent of Geneiil Lee. When Lafayette
applied to Lee, he very readily asseted, saying that he disap-
proved of the plans of the Comms^der-in-chief, that he was
sure they would fail, and that he ^as willing to be relieved
from any responsibility in carryin^hem into execution. La-
fayette immediately took comman^f hb division and marched
towards the enemy. After reflecting upon the matter, Lee
wrote to General Washington asollows.
OBNERAL LSS TO O^^^^^ WASHINGTON.
•"Camp at Kiagiton, SSth Juno, 177&
^' Deas General,
"When I first assented tc-^e Marquis de Lafayette's taking
the command of the presen^etachment, I confess I viewed it
in a very different light fro ^bat in which I view it at present
I considered it as a more coper business of a young, volun-
teering general, than of tb^econd in command in the army ;
but I find it is considered a different manner. They say that
a corps consisting of six ousand men, the greater part chosen,
is undoubtedly the most P^ourable command next to the Com-
mander-in-chief; that TV ceding it would of course have an
odd appearance. I m^ entreat, therefore, after making a
thousand apologies fot^e trouble my rash assent has occa-
sioned you, that, if thi^^tachment does march, I may have
460 APPENDIX.
the command of k. So far personally ; but, to speak as an
officer, I do not think that this detachment ought to march at
all, until at least tfe head of the encniy's right column has
passed Cranberry ; faen, if it is necessary to march the whole
army, 1 cannot see aiy impropriety in the Marquis*s command-
ing this detachment, r a greater, as an advanced guard of the
army ; but if this dekchment, with Maxwell's corps, Scott's,
Morgan's, and JacksQ's, is to be considered as a separate,
chosen, active corps, «id put under the Marquis's command
until the enemy leave th Jerseys, both myself and Lord Stirling
will be disgraced. I aiv dear General, yours, &c.
" Charlxs Lbk."
As Washington had ^ready given the command to the
Marquis, it could not withpropriety be withdrawn without his
consent Lee applied to |m for the purpose, but the Marquis
said he could not without |*eat reluctance give up the com-
mand ; that it had been yieled to him freely, and he was par-
ticularly desirous of retainin{ it This was on the second day
before the battle, and there was a prospect that the enemy
would be overtaken during theday. After Lee bad urged the
point, and appealed to the genrosity and magnanimity of the
Marquis, the latter at length agreed that if he did not come up
with the enemy so as to make an attack that day, he would
then resign the command. Lei had already been detached
with a smaller division, but was iistructed not to interfere with
the Marquis, if he had concerted my definite plan of attacking
the enemy. The day passed over f ithout coming to an action,
and late at night Lafayette wrote i note to Lee resigning the
command. The result, in regard toCeneral Lee, is well known.
The battle took place the next day^n the midst of which Lee
retreated, contrary to the expectativis of the Commander-in-
chief, and in such a manner as to lireaten the most serious
consequences to the army. He was net by Washington while
ratreating, and was addressed by hiii in a tone of reprimand
and censure, which wounded the pridtof Lee, and gave rise to
the following correspondence.
APPEKDIX. 461
OENCRAL LEE TO OENEEAL WASHINGTON.
» Cunp. Eof liih Town, 1 July [99 June 7], I77a
"Sir,
** From the knowledge I have of your Excellency's character^
I must conclude that nothing but the misinformation of some
very stupid, or misrepresentation of some very wicked person,
could have occasioned your making usi of so very singular ex-
pressions as you did on my coming up to the ground where you
had taken post They implied that I was guilty either of dis-
obedience of orders, want of conduit, or want of courage.
Your Excellency will therefore infinlely oblige me, by letting
me know on which of these three articles you ground your
charge, that I may prepare for my justification, which I have
the happiness to be confident I canio to the army, to the Con-
gress, to America, and to the woid in general Your Excel-
lency must give me leave to obseve, that neither yourself, nor
those about your person, could rom your situation be in the
least judges of the merits or dererits of our manoeuvres ; and,
to speak with a becoming pr^le, I can assert that to these
manoeuvres the success of theJay was entirely owing. I can
boldly say, that had we remaned on the first ground, or had
we advanced, or had the reteat been conducted in a manner
different from what it was, tJs whole army and the interests of
America would have riskedbeing sacrificed. I ever had, and
hope ever shall have, the /reatest respect and veneration for
General Washington. I tl^k him endowed with many great
and good qualities ; but in tns instance I must pronounce, that
he has been guilty of an &i of cruel injustice towards a man,
who certainly has some Pretensions to the regard of every
servant of this country, ^nd I think. Sir, I have a right to
demand some reparationor the injury committed ; and, unless
I can obtain it, I must, i justice to myself, when this campaign
is closed, which I belief will close the war, retire from a ser-
vice at the head of wh'h is placed a man capable of oflfering
such injuries. But at ^ same time, in justice to you, I must
29*
APPENDIX.
repeat that I from ny soul believe, that it was not a moti(Hi of
your own breast, bit instigated by some of those dirty earwigs,
who will for ever iisinuate themselves near persons in high
office ; for I really an convinced, that when General Washing-
ton acts from himself no man in his army will have reason to
complain of injustice or indecorum. I am. Sir, and hope I
ever shall have reasonto continue, your most sincerely devoted
humble servant
'' Chablbb Lbb.'*
GENERAL WAVNOTON TO GENERAL LKEi
** iMd-Qixarten, Engliih Town, 30 June, 1778.
" Sir,
**I received your letter (dated through mistake the 1st of
July), expressed as I concere in terms highly improper. I am
not conscious of having male use of any very singular expres-
sions at the time of meeting^ou, as you intimate. What I re-
collect to have said was dioated by duty, and warranted by
the occasion. As soon as cirumstances will permit, you shall
have an opportunity of justifyii^ yourself to the army, to Con-
gress, to America, and to the world in general, or of convincing
them that you were guilty of a beach of orders, and of misbe-
haviour before the enemy, on theSSth instant, in not attacking
them as you had been directed, ad in making an unnecessary,
disorderly, and shameful retreat, lam, Sir, your most obedient
servant
" George Washington.**
GENERAL LEE TO GENBRAftWASmNGTON.
•"Camp 38 [307] Jium, 177a*
"Sir,
** I beg your Excellency's pardon fir the inaccuracy in mis-
* Tbii letter in the original ii dated Jnne 38thjrbich is eridentlj a mittake,
becaose that wai the day of the batUe ; and more<ier it most bate been written
after the preceding one fh>m General Waebingtto to which it ie an aniwer.
Henoe both of General Lee'i oieniive lettera wen crooeoariy dated.
APPENDIX. 463
dating my letter. You cannot afford me greater pleasure, than
in giving me the opportunity of showing to America the suffi-
ciency of her respective servants. I trust that temporary power
of office, and the tinsel dignity attending it, will not be able, by
all the mists they can raise, to offuscate the bright rays of truth.
In the mean time your Excellency can have no objection to
my retiring from the army. I am, Sir, your most obedient
humble servant
*' Charlbs Lee\.
OBNSBAL LEE TO OENEEAL WASmNOTON.
••Camp, 30 June, 1778.
"SlE,
** Since I had the honour of adcfressing my letter by Colonel
Fitzgerald to your Excellency, I have reflected on both your
situation and mine, and beg leave to observe, that it will be for
our mutual convenience that a court of inquiry should be imme-
diately ordered ; but I could v^ish that it might be a court-
martial ; for, if the affair is d/awn into length, it may be diffi-
cult to collect the necessary evidences, and perhaps might bring
on a paper war betwixt th^ adherents to both parties, which
may occasion some disagrieable feuds on the continent ; for all
are not my friends, nor all your admirers. I must entreat there-
fore, from your love of justice, that you will immediately ex-
hibit your charge, and tbat on the first halt I may be brought
to a trial ; and am. Sir, jour most obedient humble servant
'' Charles Lee.''
OENEftAL rASHINOTON TO OENEEAL LEE.
•• Head-Quarten, Englidi Town, 30 June, 1778.
"Snt,
** Your letter by (blonel Fitzgerald and also one of this date
have been duly recAved. I have sent Colonel Scammell, the
Adjutant-General, P put you in arrest, who will deliver you a
464 AmENDiz.
copy of the charges on which you will be tried. I am. Sir,
your roost obedient servant.
** GbOSOB WASRINOTOir.''
CHAKGBS AGAINST OENSRAL LEE.
" First ; Disobedience of orders in not attacking the enemy
on the 2Sth of June, agreeably to repeated instructiona.
** Secondly ; Misbehaviour before the enemy on the same day,
by making an unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat.
** Thirdly; Disrespect to the Commander-in-chief, in two
letters dated the 1st of Jul; and the 28th of June.'*
The court-martial was convened on the 4th of July, consist-
ing of one major-general, foar brigadiers, and eight colonels.
Lord Stirling was president The court sat from time to time
till the 13th of August, when they declared their opinion, that
General Lee was guilty of all the charges, and sentenced him
to be suspended from any comnand in the armies of the United
States for the term of twelve nonths. The testimony of the
trial was extremely full, and it eihibits a minute detail of the
operations in the battle of Monmcuth. Congress approved the
sentence of the court-martial, by a vote of thirteen in the
affirmative and seven in the negative and ordered the Proceed-
ings of the court to be published. — Eiw
M.
PAGE 822.
WASHINGTON AND UER
The following letters and notes respeding the publications
of General Lee, are taken from the 6th inL of the ** Life and
Writings of Washington," edited by Mr. St^axa^—
AmENDiz. 465
** General Lee's publication in Dunlap's Gazette of the Sd,
and I have seen no other, puts me in a disagreeable situation.*
I have neither the leisure nor inclination to enter the lists with
him in a newspaper; and so far as his production points to
personality, I can and do from my inmost soul despise it ; but,
when he has most barefacedly misrepresented facts in some
places, and thrown out insinuations in others, that have not the
smallest foundations in truth, not to attempt a refutation is a
tacit acknowledgment of the justice of the assertions; for,
though there are thousands who know how unsupported his
piece is, there are yet tens of thousands that know nothing of
the matter, and will be led naturally to believe, that bold and
confident assertions uncontradicted must be founded in truth.
** It became a part of General Lee's plan, from the moment of
his arrest, though it was an event solicited by himself, to have
the world believe that he was a persecuted man, and party
was at the bottom of it. But however convenient it may have
been for his purposes to establish this belief, I defy him, or his
most zealous partisans, to adduce a single instance in proof of
it, unless bringing him to trial, at his own request, is consi-
dered in this light I can do more ; I will defy any person out
of my own family, to say that I have ever mentioned his name,
if it was to be avoided ; and, when not, that I have not stu-
diously declined expressing any sentiment of him or his beha-
vour. How far this conduct accords with his, let his own
breast decide. If he conceives that I was opposed to him,
because he found himself disposed to enter into a party against
me; if he thought I stood in his road to preferment, and
that it was therefore convenient to lessen me in the esteem of
my countrymen, in order to pave the way for his own ad*
vancement, I have only to observe, that, as I never entertained
any jealousy of him, so neither did I ever do more, than common
civility and proper respect to his rank required, to conciliate
his good opinion. His temper and plans were too versatile
* This was a long and eUborate aitide, tipwd hj General Lbb, and containing
a free diaeuaaion of tlie affair at Monmouth, and of some pointa relating to hia
trial Boaatfbl and egotiatic, it met with little h,voax from any party. It waa
repriated in Jltetnffen'a CtmsetU,
466 APPBHDIZ*
and violent to attract my admiration; and that I have escaped
the venom of bis tongue and pen so long, is more to be won-
dered at than applauded ; as it is a favour of which no officer,
under whose immediate command he ever served, has the hap-
piness, if happiness can thus be denominated, of boasting."
TO PRSSIDKHT KBED.
«« Wert Point, 99lh Jnlf, 1779.
"DearSie,
^1 have a pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of year
obliging favour of the 15th instant, and in finding by it, that
the author of the Queries Political and Military* has had no
* ThoM Queriet were written by General Cbamimm Ln, and printed nMoj-
moofly in the Maetland Jouknil, a paper pablished by Wiluam GonnAmn, a
friend of General Lee. The Queries were penned in a rerj malignant spirit,
and were dengned to injure General WASHimrroif, aa fiur aa it could be done by
■ooh an effuaion of apleen and ill-temper. The IbUowing are apedmene :
*' Whether it ia salutary or dangerous, conaistent with or abhotreot finm the
spirit and principlea of liberty and repuUieanism, to inculcate and enoonrafa in
the people an idea, that their welfare, safety, and glory depend on one manT
Whether they really do depend on one man T
••Whether amongst the late warm, tut latfier loyal addreases of tins eity (Fhib.
delphia) to his Excellency General WASuiaiTON, there was a ain|^ mortal, oot
gentleman only excepted, who could possibly be aequainted with hu merits t
** Whether the gentleman excepted does really think hia Excellency a great man,
or whether evidences could not be produced of his thinking quite the rererse?
••Whether the armiea under Gates and AaROUi, and the detachment onder
Staek to the northward, or that immediately under his ExoeUenej in Fenii8yl>
Tenia, gave the deciuve turn to the fortune of war T
There were twenty.five queries of a aimilar tenor and bearing. The •• gentle>
man** here referred to waa Preeident Reeu, who wrote to WAsmifaToii, when be
fbrwarded to him a eapf of the Queriea : •• I ahouM not have troubled yon with
the endoaed paper, if I did not know that you can look down with oootampt en
these feeble efforts of malevolence and reeentment, and that I am introduced into
it to bear &lae witness. I have addressed a piece to the printer, wherein I have
made such remarka and taken snch a notice of thia attempt, as I thought a reqpeet
to my own character required. I have also the pleaame of aaauring yen, that the
perfbrnyMioe has met with the moat general detestation and reeentment, invnlviiy
the printer and all concerned in a most disagreeable dSeama. This is m tme a
criterion of the senae of the publie, that I cannot help oangratolatinf yon on this
genuine mark of public affection.**— -JfiS. Xettsr, /kfy XUk,
Much indignation was expressed against Goonann whn the Qtmim
APFBKDIX. 467
great cause to exult in the favourable reception of them by the
public. Without a clue, I should have been at no great loss to
trace the malevolent writer; but I have seen a history of the
transaction, and felt a pleasure mingled with pain at the narra-
tion. To stand well in the estimation of one's country is a
happiness that no rational creature can be insensible of. To
he pursued, first under the mask of friendship, and, when dis-
guise would suit no long^, as an open calumniator, with gross
misrepresentation and $eIfiknown falsehoods, carries an alloy,
which no mind can bear with perfect composure.
^ The motives which actuated this gentleman, can better be
accounted for by himself than by me. If he can produce a
single instance, in which I have mentioned his name, after
his trial commenced, where it was in my power to avoid it,
and, when it was not, where I have done it with the smallest
degree of acrimony or disrespect, I will consent that the world
shall view my character in as disreputable a light, as he wishes
to place it. What cause there is, then, for such a profusion of
▼enom, as he is emitting upon all occasions, unless by an act
of public duty, in bringing him to trial at his own solicitation,
I have disappointed him and raised his ire ; or he conceives
that, in proportion as he can darken the shades of my charac-
ter, he illuminates his own ; whether these, I say, or motives
still more hidden and dark, govern him, I shall not undertake
to decide ; nor have I time to inquire into them at present.
** If I had ever assumed the character of a military* genius
and an officer of experience ; if, under these false colours, I
had solicited the command I was honoured with; or if, after
my appointment, I had presumptuously driven on, under the
sole guidance of my own judgment and self-will, and misfor-
tunes, the result of obstinacy and misconduct, not of necessity,
had followed, I should have thought myself a proper subject
in bis paper. A large namber of the moet respectable citisens of Baltimore with-
drew their patronage from the Maraud Jmamal^ pobliclj aTowing as a reason,
that they considered it subservient to the interests of the eneroj. Mr. Goddaed
pttblished a recantation, in which he acknowledged, that ** he had transgressed
against truth, justice, and his duty as a good citizen,** in giving currency to the
Omtsss, and at the same time declared the author of them to be Genenl Lkb.
468 APPENDIX*
for the lash, not only of his, but of the pen of every other
writer, and a fit object for public resentment. But when it
is well known, that the command was in a manner forced
upon me, that I accepted it with the utmost diffidence, from
a consciousness that it required greater abilities and more
experience than I possessed, to conduct a great military mar
chine, embarrassed as I knew ours must be by a variety of
complex circumstances, being as it were but little more than a
mere chaos; and when nothing tllore viras promised on my
part, than has been most inviolably performed; it is rathcHT
grating to pass over in silence charges, which may impress
the uninformed, though others know, that these charges have
neither reason nor truth to support them, and that a plain and
simple narrative of facts would defeat all his assertions, not*
withstanding they are made with an effrontery, which few men
do, and, for the honour of human nature, none ought to possess.
** If this gentleman is envious of my station, and thinks I stand
in his way to preferment, I can assure him, in most sdemn
terms, that the first wish of my soul is to return to that peaceful
retirement, and domestic ease and happiness, from whence I
came. To this end all my labours have been directed, and for
this purpose have I been more than four years a perfect slave,
endeavouring under as many embarrassing circumstances as
ever fell to one man's lot to encounter, and with as pure mo-
tives as ever man was influenced by, to promote the cause and
service I had embarked in." — En.
N.
PAOB 822.
MISS FRANKS AND GENERAL C. LEE.
Miss Franks, in throwing the pointed shafts of her wit, spared
neither friend nor foe. At the Mischeanza, given at Philadel-
APPENDIX. 469
phia by the officers of the British army to Sir William Howe,
previously to his relinquishment of command, Miss Franks
appeared as one of the Princesses, in supporting whose claims
to superior beauty and accomplishment, the assembled Knights
were to contend at a tournament exhibited. The evacuation of
the city immediately following. Miss Franks remained behind.
Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Steward of Maryland, whose previous
intimacy with her could alone justify the familiarity of his con-
duct, dressed out in a handsome suit of scarlet, taking an early
occasion to pay his compliments, said to her in the true spirit
of gallantry, " I have adopted your colours, my Princess, the
better to secure a courteous reception — deign to smile on a true
Knight." To this speech Miss Franks made no reply; but
turning to the company who surrounded her, exclaimed — " How
the ass glories in the lion's skin."
Nor was this the only rub experienced by the Lieutenant-
Colonel While the company were enjoying themselves in
lively conversation, their mirth was interrupted by loud clamours
from the street, which occasioned them to hasten to the win-
dows, the better to ascertain the cause. High head-dresses
were then the reigning fashion among the British belles. A
female appeared on the street, surrounded by a crowd of idlers,
ragged in her apparel, and barefoot, but adorned with a tower-
ing head-dress in the extreme of the mode. Miss Franks
readily perceived the intent of this tumultuous visit ; and on the
Lieutenant-Colonel's observing, that the lady was equipped alto-
gether in the English fashion, replied, " JNoi altogether^ Colonel ;
for though the style of her head is British, her shoes and stock-
ings are in the genuine Continental fashion.^'
During an interval of dancing, at a splendid ball given by the
officers of the army, to the ladies of New York, Sir Henry
Clinton, having previously engaged in conversation with Miss
Franks, called out to the musicians, " Give us, * Britons strike
home.'" " The Commander-in-Chief has made a mistake," ex*
claimed Miss Franks, " he meant to say* Britons — go home.**
There were very few men quaHfied to enter the lists with this
intelligent lady — for her information was extensive, and she had
wit at will She did, however, on dne occasion, meet a supe-
40
470 APPENDIX.
rior, and appeared bereft of her brilliancy of talent, by receiving
with anger, what was only intended as a sally to excite merri-
Hient I allude to her correspondence with General Charles
Lee, whose letter is but little known, and certainly possesses a
stamp of humour that renders it worthy to be preserved.
GENERAL LEE^S LETTER TO MISS FRANKS.
" Madam,
" When an officer of the respectable rank I bear, is grossly
traduced and calumniated, it is incumbent on him to clear up
the affair to the world, with as little delay as possible. The
spirit of defamation and calumny (I am sorry to say it) is
grown to a prodigious and intolerable height on this Continent.
If you had accused me of a design to procrastinate the war, or
of holding treasonable correspondence with the enemy, I could
have borne it : this I am used to ; and this happened to the great
Fabius Maximus. If you had accused me of getting drunk, as
often as I could get liquor, as two Alexanders the Great have
been charged with the vice, I should perhaps have sat patient
under the imputation ; or even if you had given the plainest
hints, that I had stolen the soldier's shirts, this I could have put
up with, as the great Duke of Marlboroitoh would have been
an example : or if you had contented yourself with asserting
that I was so abominable a sloven, as never to part with my
shirt, until my shirt parted with me, the anecdotes of my illus-
trious namesake of Sweden* would have administered some
comfort to me. But the calumny you have, in the fertility of
your malicious wit, chosen to invent, is of so new, so unprece*
dented, and so hellish a kind, as would make Job himself swear
like a Virginia Colonel.
« Is it possible that the celebrated Miss Franks,! a lady who
has had every human and divine advantage, who has read, (or
at least might have read) in the originals, the New and OM
* CharlM XII. f Hie jwmg lady waa a Jewcw.
APPENDIX. 471
Testaments, (though I am afraid she too seldom looks eyen into
the translations) I say, is it possible that Miss Franks, with
every human and Divine advantage, who might, and ought to
have read these two good books, which (an old Welsh nurse,
whose uncle was reckoned the best preacher in Merionethshire,
assured me) enjoin charity, and denounce vengeance against
slander and evil-speaking ; is it possible, I again repeat it, that
Miss Franks should, in the face of day, carry her malignity so
far, in the presence of three most respectable personages ; (one
of the oldest religion in the world, one of the newest, for he is
a New-Light Man, and the other, most probably, of no religion
at all, as he is an English sailor) but I demand it again and
again, is it possible that Miss Franks should assert it, in the
presence of these respectable personages, * that I wore green
breeches patched with leather V To convict you, therefore, of
the falsehood of this most diabolical slander, to put you to eternal
silence, (if you are not past all grace) and to cover you with a
much larger patch of infamy than you have wantonly endea-
voured to fix on my breeches, I have thought proper, by the
advice of three very grave friends, (lawyers and members of
Congress, of course excellent judges of delicate points of honour)
to send you the said breeches, and with the consciousness of
truth on my side, to submit them to the most severe inspection
and scrutiny of you, and all those who may have entered into
this wicked cabal, against my honour and reputation^ I say I
dare you, and your whole junto, to your worst : turn them,
examine them inside and outside, and if you find them to be
green breeches patched with leather, and not actually legitimate
Sherry Vallies,* such as his Majesty of Poland wears, (who, let
me tell you, is a man who has made more fashions than alt
your knights of the Mischeanzaf put together, notwithstanding
their beauties) I repeat it, (though I am alnK>st out of breath
with repetitions and parentheses) that if those are proved to be
* A kind of long breeches, reaehing to the ankle, with a broad stripe of leather
on the inside of the thigh, lor the conveniency of riding.
t An entertainment given to Greneral Howe, just before his departure for Europe,
at which were introduced tilts and tournaments in honour of the ladies, of whom
Miss Franka was one.
472 APPENDIX.
patched green breeches, and not legitimate Sherry Yallies
(which a man of the first bon ton might be proud of) I will sub-
mit in silence to all the scurrility which I have no doubt you
and your abettors are prepared to pour out against me, in the
public papers, on this important and interesting occasion. But
Madam ! Madam ! reputation, (as * Common Sense' very sensi-
bly, though not very uncommonly, observes) is a very serious
thing. You have already injured me in the tenderest part, and
I demand satisfaction ; and as you cannot be ignorant of the
laws of duelling, having conversed with so many Irish officers,
whose favourite topic it is, particularly in the company of
ladies, I insist on the privilege of the injured party, which is to
name his hour and weapons ; and, as I intend it to be a very
serious affair, will not admit of any seconds ; as you may depend
upon it. Miss Franks, that whatever may be your spirit on the
occasion, the world shall never accuse General Lee of having
turned his back upon you. In the mean time, I am yours,
C. L.
" P. S. I have communicated the affair only to my confiden-
tial friend, who has mentioned it to no more than seven mem-
bers of Congress, and nineteen women, six of whom were old
maids, so that there is no danger of its taking wind on my
side, and I hope you will be equally guarded on your part."
Garden. — Ed.
O.
PAGE 32a.
Arlington House, February y 14, 1846.
Near Alexandria, D. C.
My Dear Sir,
I send you a few sketches of Laurens. He was, indeed,
the Bayard of his age, "wn chevalier j sans peur et sans reproche.^^
Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens was the son of Henry Lau-
APPENDIX. 471
lens, President of the Revolutionary Congress, and called Tower
Henry, from the circumstance of his being confined in the Tower,
(of which Earl Cornwallis was constable,) at the time that his.
gallant son, Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, was negotiating at
York Town, for the surrender of said constable, and his whole
army. Colonel Laurens was educated in England, as were most
of the young Carolinians of fortune and family in the olden time,,
and had married a Miss Manning, the daughter of the Lieu-
tenant Governor of the Bank of Enghnd, when the troubles
between the Mother Coontry, and the Colonies, commenced.
Knowing the ardour of young Laurens in the cause of liberty
and his native land, his English friends and connexions were very
desirous of preventing his return to America, well knowing the
part that he would take in the approaching contest. His father-.
in-law offered him a check for 10,000 guineas, if he would give
his word of honour, not to leave the British shores. Laurens
rejected the offer with disdain, and though closely watched, suc-
ceeded in concealing himself among the ballast of a ship bound
to America, and safely reached his native land.
He immediatey took a decided and ssealous part in behalf of
his country, and though a very young soldier, soon acquired such
distinction, that in the campaign of 1777, he was attached to
the military family of the Commander-in-chief as Aid-de-camp,
with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Associated with Hamil-
ton, the two youthful brothers in arms, and Aids-de-camp, were
considered as the very elite of the Head Quarters. In the cam-
paigns of 1777 and 1778, Laurens greatly distinguished himself.
At the batde of Germantown, he rushed up to the door of Chew's.
House, which he forced partly open, and fighting with his sword
with one hand, with the other he applied to the wood work a
flaming brand, and what is very remarkable, retired from under
the tremendous fire of the house, with but a- very slight wound.
At the battle of Monmouth, Laurens was again in the very
thickest of the fight. Leading repeated charges on the enemy,
rallying the broken, and every where displaying that chivalric
courage, that extorted admiration from all, even from his ene-.
sales.
In 1781, he was sent on a special mission to France, to expe-.
40*
474 APPENDIX.
dite the aid in money, stores, naval and military forces which
had been delayed, till the cause of American Independence began
to suffer grievously. Laurens, upon his arrival in France, pro-
ceeded directly in, the object of his mission. He would not
listen to the arguments, apologies, &c., of ministers and cour-
tiers ; his demand was, '^ Show me the King," and would only,
in full court at Versailles, consent to deliver his despatches into
the king's own hand. His promptness, energy, and lofty bear-
ing, brought the French court and ministry to their senses, his
demands were complied with, and Laurens sailed in triumph on
his return to America, laden with those essential aids that soon
after brought the War of the Revolution to a happy and glorious
end. The assistance obtained by .the genius and force of cha-
racter of Colonel Laurens, moved the armies to York Town, and
to the consummation of the contest. At York Town, Colonel
Laurens again assumed his station, as Aid-de-camp to the Comr
mander-in-chief.
The 14th of October, 1781, when his beloved associate and
brother in arms, Hamilton, was about to lead the assault on the
redoubts, Laurens obtained a command of about eighty men, and
in the very height of the storming, the Lieutenant-Colonel was
seen gallantly leading hi3 men, and the flank of the American
troops and leaping into the enemy's works, he made Major
Campbell, the British commanding officer, a prisoner with bis
Qwn hand. In 1782, Colonel Laurens had the command of a
body of troops in his native. State, and while operating on the
Combahee, he encountered a British force sent out from Charles-
ton. Laurens was at a lady's house, ill from fever, when in-
formed that the enemy were approaching. He sprung from his
bed, and prepared for the combat, though scarcely able to sit on
his horse. As he moved from the house, he told the lady that
if she would look out from her portico, she would see a battle-
poor fellow it was his last. As the British troops landed from
their barges a spirited attack ensued, and Laurens was mortally
wounded at nearly the first fire. As he fell into the arms of Cap-
tain Beall, the Captain endeavoured to console him by express-
ing a hope that the wound would not prove mortal. Laurens
Replied : ^' No, no my dear fellow, this is as it should be. I die
APPENDIX. 475
jbut you know I have often wished to die in battle; my country
is free, and no longer needs my services. Farewell. I die con-
tent."
Such was the admiration felt for the personal character of
Laurens in the British army, that Major B. who commanded the
British detachment, on his return home after the war, was ac-
tually " sent to Coventry " by his brother officers, who said,
" How could you kill that noble fellow, Colonel Laurens, and the
war so nearly at an end," to which B. in justification, replied:
" I went up the river rather on a trading, than a fighting expe-
dition. We wanted bread, and proposed to give clothes and
groceries in exchange, but to all our overtures, Laurens sternly
answered: •Blood for bread, with the enemies of my country.'
He attacked us on our landing, and I regret his fall, gentlemen,
as much as you do."
Colonel Laurens lies buried in the garden of the house from
which he marched to his last battle. The ancients would have
erected an altar to •'such a Roman;" the Americans are content
that the rank grass should alone wave over the ashes of Him
who was the pride of their chivalry. The purest of Patriots.
The bravest of the brave of warriors. The most energetic and
successful of diplomatists. ''Do you remember Laurens?" said
the author to the venerable General Philip Stuart, " who led the
forlorn hope of Colonel William Washington's horse at the bat-
tle of Eutaws, and was desperately wounded." The gallant ve-
teran replied, *• After the action, our Hospital was in the most
wretched state imaginable; the wounded were dressed with a
kind of coarse osnaburgs, that rather irritated and increased, than
assuaged the anguish of our wounds. At this time Laurens ar-
rived. On beholding our destitute and suffering condition, he
called to his servant, ' open my portmanteau, sir, take out the
dozen cambric ruffled shirts that I brought from France, tear
them up into bandages for the gentlemen's wounds.' It was
done. Now, my dear sir," continued the maimed soldier of the
Revolution, *' you may well suppose that I remember Laurens."*^
I send you, my dear sir, these few sketches of the Life and
Character of Colonel Laurens, from The Recollections, It is part
of the plan of that work, to introduce brief Memoirs of those*
476 APPENDIX.
whom Washington lored, who were attached to his person, or
employed by him in important services, daring the War of Inde*
pendence. I remain, dear sir.
Your obedient and
humble servant,
GEORGE W. P. CUSnS.
John S. Littell, Esq.
P. S. The author of the " Recollections," knowing that La
Fayette was the associate of Hamilton and Laurens, at the Head
Quarters, in 1777, asked the good General as to the respective
degrees of attachment felt toward the Chief, by the distinguished
young Aids-de-camp. La Fayette replied: ^'The attachment
of Hamilton was pure, generous, enthusiastic; that of Laurens — ^
devotional,^^
Page 336.
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
The Philadelphia edition, published in 1846, of " Contribu-.
TIONS TO THE EDINBURGH ReVIEW BY FrANCIS JeFFREY;" — a.
compilation that will find its way into every respectable library,
contains an exceedingly able Review of Mr. Fox's "History of
the early part of the Reign of James the Second." The glaring
faults and the manly virtues, — no less than the transcendent
genius and abilities of this illustrious statesman, have alike, ar-
rested the attention of mankind ; and Lord Jeffrey, within two
years of his decease, and with the full development of his
striking character, fresh before the world, has sketched it— its
light and shade — with a master's hand; and while drawing
**Hi8 frailties from their dread abode,"
has done noble justice to a name that will ever adorn the period
of England's annals, most illustrious for the number, talent and:
achievements of its statesmen, literati and heroes.
APPENDIX. 477
"To those," he says, "who know Mr. Fox only by the great
oatlines of his public history, — who know merely that he passed
from the dissipations of too gay a youth, into the tumults and
cabals of a political life, — and that his days were spent in con-
tending about public measures, and in guiding or averting the
tempests of faction, — the spirit of indulgent and tender feeling
which pervades this book, must appear unaccountable. Those
who live much in the world, even in a private station, commonly
have their hearts a little hardened, and their moral sensibility a
little impaired. But, statesmen and practical politicians, are,
with justice, suspected of a still greater forgetfulness of mild im-
pressions, and honourable scruples. Coming necessarily into
contact with great vices and great suflerings, they must gradu-
ally lose some of their horror for the first, and much of their
compassion for the last. Constantly engaged in contention, they
cease pretty generally, to regard any human beings as objects of
sympathy or disinterested attachment; and, mixing much with
the most corrupt part of mankind, naturally come to regard the
species itself with indifierence, if not with contempt. All the
softer feelings are apt to be worn oflT, in the rough conflicts of
factious hostility ; and all the finer moralities to be eflTaced, by
the constant contemplation of expediency, and the necessities of
occasional compliance.
"Such is the common conception which we form of men,
who, have lived the life of Mr. Fox; and such, in spite of the
testimony of partial friends, is the impression which most private
persons would have retained of him, if this volume had not come
to convey a truer, and a more engaging picture to the world at
large, and to posterity.
" By far the most remarkable thing, then, in this book, is the
tone of indulgence and unfeigned philanthrophy which prevails
in every part of it ; — a most amiable sensibility to all the kind
and domestic affections, and a sort of soft-heartedness towards
the sufllerings of individuals, which seem hitherto to have been
thought incompatible, with the stern dignity of history. It can-
not but strike us with something still more pleasing than sur-
prise, to meet with traits of almost feminine tenderness, in the
sentiments of this veteran statesman ; and a general character of
478 APPENDIX.
charity towards all men, sot only remote from die rancoar of
vulgar hostility, but purified in a great degree from the asperities
of party contention. He expresses indeed, throughout, a higk-
minded contempt for what is base, and a thorough detestation
for what is cruel: But yet is constantly led, by a sort of gene-
rous prejudice in favour of human nature, to admit all possible
palliations for the conduct of the individual delinquent, and
never attempts to shut him out from the benefit of those natural
sympathies, of which, the bad as well as the good are occasion-
ally the objects, from their fortune or situation. He has given
a new character, we think, to history, by this soft and conde-
scending concern for the feelings of individuals ; and not only
left a splendid record of the gentleness and affectionate simpli-
city of his own dispositions, but set an example, by which we
hope that men of genius may be taught hereafter, to render their
instructions more engaging and impressive. Nothing, we are
persuaded, can be more gratifying to his friends, than the im-
pression of his character, which this work will carry down to
posterity ; nor is it a matter of indifference to the country, that
its most illustrious statesman should be yet more distinguished,
for the amiableness of his private affections." — Ed.
Q.
Page 375.
Washingtok at Harrisburoh.
[From the Oracle of Dauphin, of Monday, 6th October, 1794.]
^' On Friday last, the President of the United States, arrived in
this town. The pleasure excited in beholding, for the first time,
our beloved chief, in this borough, is not easily described. The
following address was delivered to him, by the burgesses, in be*
half of the inhabitants of the town : —
▲PFENDIX*
479
'< To his Excellency George Washington, Esquire, President
of the United States of America :
** Sir, While we, the Burgesses and Citizens of Harrisburgh,
rejoice in the opportunity of presenting our respects, to a cha-
racter so justly revered and dear to Americans, we cannot but
lament, that we should owe it to an interruption of the peace
and prosperity of our country, those constant objects of your
public cares. We trust, however, that the just indignation
which fires the breasts of all virtuous citizens, at the unprovoked
outrages committed by those lawless men, who are in opposition
to one of the mildest and most equal governments, of which the
condition of man is susceptible, will excite such exertions, as to
crush the spirit of disaffection wherever it has appeared ; and
that our political horizon will shine brighter than ever, on a dis-
persion of the clouds, which now menace and obscure it.
" Though our sphere of action is too limited to produce any im-
portant effects, yet we beg leave to assure your Excellency, that,
so far as it extends, our best endeavours shall not be wanting to
support the happy constitution, and wise administration of our
government.
** Signed in behalf of the Borough.
Conrad BoMBACH, J Burgesses.
Alexander Berryhill. )
" HarriBburgh, October 3d, 1794."
To which the President was pleased to return the following
answer : —
^^ To the Burgesses J and other Citizens of Harrisburgh:
*• Gentlemen — In declaring to you, the genuine satisfaction I
derive from your very cordial address, I will not mingle any ex-
pression of the painful sensations, which I experience from the
occasion that has drawn me hither. You will be at no loss to
do justice to my feelings. But, relying on that kindness of Pro-
vidence towards our country, which every adverse appearance
hitherto has served to manifest ; and counting upon the tried
good sense, and patriotism of the great body of our fellow-citi-
sens, I do not hesitate to indulge with you, the expectation of
480 APPENDIX.
such an issue, as will serve to confirm the blessings we enjoy,
under a constitution, that well deserves the confidence, attach-
ment, and support of virtuous and enlightened men.
" To class the inhabitants of Harrisburgh among this number, is
only to bear testimony to the zealous and efficient exertions,
which they have made, towards the defence of the laws."
" Go : Washington."
"October 4lh, 1794."
R.
Page 395.
PRESIDENT ADAMS.
The address of the inhabitants of the Borough of Harrisburgh,
in the State of Pennsylvania, to the President of the United
States:*
<^ Sir, at a time when the minds of men are so intoxicated
with ideas of reform, and visionary schemes for meliorating the
condition of humanity, as to be fatally inattentive to their own
security, and regardless of considerations, which have hitherto
been deemed the most sacred and obligatory, there may be pro-
priety in the declaration of sentiments, which, in more settled
times, might, at least, be thought superfluous. From the gene-
rality also of the practice of expressing approbation of the
measures of government at the present crisis, motives might be
attached to the omission of it, less honourable than a disinclina-
tion to intrude upon the managers of the public concerns, or a
reluctance to Suppose that, in the resistance of outrage and
maintenance of national independence, they would not receive
the support of the virtuous part of the community.
^' Under these impressions, we, the subscribers, inhabitants
of the Borough of Harrisburgh, beg leave to declare that we are
too highly sensible of the prosperity we enjoy, to be willing to
* Bj Alezahvbe Gaatdon, Etq.— £o.
APPENDIX. 481
relinquish it without an effort for its preservation ; and that, in
our wishes for the happiness of others, we have not lost sight of
oar country and ourselves. — That in our opinion, the conduct
and designs of the French Republic (scarcely aggravated or
made more apparent by the profligacy of their avowal), are such
as produce alarm and indignation, in every breast that feels for
the honour and happiness of America, and to excite the appre*
hensions of every man, of whatever nation or country, who may
place a sense of justice, morality and piety, among the orna-
ments of his nature and the blessings of society. That under
this persuasion, we hold it wise to be prepared for every event,
and shall, therefore, most cheerfully acquiesce in such measures
of defence, as may be adopted by you, sir, and the other
branches of the administration, at the present most momentous
period. And as your past conduct has invariably commanded
the respect and approbation of every ingenious mind, so we
have the most perfect reliance that, in future, it will continue
to be influenced by the purest motives, and clearest perceptions
of the public good. We beg you to accept our cordial wishes
for your personal welfare and happiness."
MR. ADAMS's ANSWEJI*
'^ To the inhabitants of the Borough of Harrisburgh in the
State of Pennsylvania: —
** Gentlemen — ^Your address has been presented to me by Mr.
Hartley, Mr. Sitgreaves, and Mr. Hanna^ three of your repre-
sentatives in Congress.
*^ I know not which to admire most, the conciseness, the
energy, the elegance or profound wisdom of this excellent ad-^
dress.
<^ Ideas of reformation, and schemes for meliorating the con*
dition of humanity, should not be discouraged when proposed
with reason, and pursued with moderation; but the rage for in-
novation, which destroys every thing because it is established,
and introduces absurdities the most monstrous, merely, because
they are neW, V^as never carried to such a pitch of madness
in any age of the world, as in the latter end of the boasted
41
482 APPENDIX.
eighteenth century, and never produced effects so horrible upon
suffering humanity.
^^ Among all the appearances, portentous of evil, there is none
more incomprehensible than the professions of republicanism,
among those who place not a sense of justice, morality, or piety
among the ornaments of their nature and the blessings of society.
As nothing is more certain or demonstrable, than that free re-
publicanism cannot exist without these ornaments and blessings,
the tendency of the times is rapid towards a restoration of the
petty military despotisms of the feudal anarchy, and by their
means a return to the savage state of barbarous life.
'^ How can the press prevent this, when all the presses of a
nation, and indeed of many nations at once, are subject to an
imprimaturj by a veto upon pain of conflagration, banishment,
or confiscation.
^'That America may have the glory of arresting this torrent
of error, vice, and imposture, is my fervent wish ; and if senti*
ments as great as those from Harrisburgh, should be found uni-
versally to prevail, as I doubt not they will, my hopes will be
as sanguine as my wishes."
"JOHN ADAMS."
- Philadelphia, 13th May, 1798.**
COMMENTS BY MR. GRAYDON.
A comparison of this answer of Mr. Adams, with the pre^
ceding one of General Washington, tends to illustrate the diffe-
rent characters of the men. In the one, we find every sentiment
restrained by the most prudent and judicious circumspection;
it says no more ^' than just the thing it ought." — But, in that of
President Adams, the address seems to have been seized on as a
text, for a very bold and excursive commentary, in which have
been indulged some flights of fancy, and a prophetic dictum,
which, however it might be warranted by appearances at the
time, has not yet been fulfilled, nor is likely to be. As to the
admonitions scattered through the answers, generally to the nu-
merous addresses presented, considering the temper of the time.
APPENDIX. 483
and authority of Mr. Adams's character in point of political wis*
dom and sagacity, they are rather laudable than censurable;
though in minds not duly impressed with the awfulness of the
crisis, they might be liable to the imputation of a party spirit,
not quite becoming in a chief magistrate. But, what is truly
wonderful and deplorable, is, that the man who could utter such
sentiments in the year 1798, should, in a very short time after,
have fallen into the democratic ranks, and have advocated the
pretensions of France, a war with. England, — and in short, all
the measures of that portion of the people, whose views and
policy he had so poignantly reprobated.
Whatever evasions may be employed to apologize for this
change, as that the danger of democratic anarchy was removed,
and the petty despotisms apprehended, were swallowed up in
the grand, overwhelming empire of Napoleon, the character of
revolutionary France, in some of its most menacing aspects, was
the same. The same imprimatur on all the presses of one na^
tion, and indeed of more nations than were subject to it in 1798,
remained, the same torrent of vice and imposture, for the same
flagitious purposes of arbitrary rule, and extended dominion.
The same efforts, but with more alarming efficiency, were in
operation for dangerous innovations, for Gallic predominance,
and the flood of immorality inseparable from it. Yet lament-
able to be reflected on, the patriotism of Mr. Adams, ^^ with all
these appearances portentous of evil," did ebb from the full tide
of federalism, to the dead low water mark of democracy and
jacobinism.
But Mr. Adams seems, unfortunately, to have exclusively
chosen public life for his profession, as well as that of his sons.
What then was to be done ? Democracy was in the ascendant,
and to be statesmen out of place, was as abhorrent to the genius
of thriA, as to be lawyers without litigation, carpenters without
houses to build, or shoemakers without leather. In this unto-
ward predicament, the eldest son boldly determines " not to deli-
berate, but to act," and is rewarded accordingly. And the old
gentleman, either for his own good, or of the rest of his family,
seems equally bent on a course of activity. Well did Genera)
484 APPENDIX.
Hamilton seem to comprehend his character, when he states him
as capable, through the yexation of wounded vanity, of directly
changing his political course. In the clashings of his cabinet,
the federalists seemed to prefer the opinions of Greneral Hamil-
ton, to his own. Hence, he renounces at once both the party
and the creed, and he takes himself to those of the jacobins, thus
rendering himself a memorable example of the truth of Solon's
aphorism, — that ^^ no man can be pronounced happy, until he
dies, — none secure from degeneracy until death has put its
seal on his character."
PAGE 403.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY BT THE HOUSE OF BEPHESENTATr^ES.
*< On the 11th of February the ballots were opened. During
the performance of this ceremony, a most extraordinary inci-
dent occurred. As it is known to but few now living, and
never been publicly spoken of, it has been deemed proper to
record it here, as a part of the history of that exciting contest.
"The Aurora of the 16th of February, 1801, remarks, that
Mhe tellers declared that there was some informality in the
votes of Georgia ; but, believing them to be true votes, reported
them as such.' No explanation of the nature of this informality
was given ; nor is it known that any has ever been given since.
Had it been announced at the time, there can be no doubt it
would have proved fatal to the election of Mr. Jefierson.
Whether the interest of our country would or would not have
been thereby promoted, is not a question for discussion here.
" By the Constitution of the United States at that time it was
provided, art^2, sect. 1, <The electors shall meet in their re-
APPENDIX. 48^
spective States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom
one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with
themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted
for, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall
sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of Government
of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate^
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate
and House of Representatives open all the certificates, and the
votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest
number of votes shall be the President^ if such number be a
majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there
be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal
number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall im-
mediately choose, by ballot, one of them for President ; and if
no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list
the said House shall, in like manner, choose the President^
But, in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by
States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a,
choice.'
** From the above extract it will be seen that the Constitution
is imperative as to the form and manner in which the electoral
returns are to be made. The ceremony of opening was per-:
formed in the presence of the two Houses. The package of a
State having been opened by the Vice-President, it was handed
by him to the tellers. Mr. Jefferson was the presiding officer.
On opening the package endorsed Georgia votes, it was dis-
covered to be totally irregular. The statement now about to
be given, is derived from an honourable gentleman* a member
of Congress from the State of New York, during the adminis-
tration of Mr. Jefferson, and yet living (1837) in this State. He
says that Mr. Wells (a teller on the part of the- Senate) informed
him that the envelope was blank ; that the retum of the votes
was not authenticated by the signatures of the electors, or any
of them, either on the outside or the inside of the envelope, or in
any other manner ; that it merely stated in the inside that th^.
votes pf Georgia were, for Thomas Jefferson, four, and. foif
41«
486 APPENDIX.
Aaron Burr four^ without the signature of any person whatso-
ever. Mr. Wells added, that he was very undecided as to the
proper course to be pursued by the tellers. It was, however,
suggested by one of them that the paper should be handed to
the presiding officer, without any statement from the tellers,
except that the return was informal ; that he consented to this
arrangement under the firm conviction that Mr. Jefferson would
announce ^he nature of the informality from the Chair ; but, to
his utmost surprise, he (Mr. Jefferson) rapidly declared that the
votes of Georgia were four for Thomas Jefferson, and four for
Aaron Burr, without noticing their informality, and in a hurried
manner put them aside, and then broke the seals and handed to
the tellers the package from the next stale. Mr. Wells ob-
served, that as soon as Mr. Jefferson looked at the paper pur-
porting to contain a statement of the electoral vole of the State
of Georgia, his countenance changed, but that the decision and
promptitude with which he acted on that occasion, convinced
him of that which he (a Federalist,) and his party had always
doubted, that is to say, Mr. Jeffei*son's decision of character, at
feast when his own interest was at hazard. Mr. Wells further
stated, that if the votes of Georgia had not been thus counted,
as it woukl have brought all the candidates into the house, Mr.
Pinckney among the number, Mr. Jefferson could not have
been elected President.
" The same honourable member of Congress further stated,
that some few years after receiving the above information from
Mr. Wells, he became intimately acquainted with John Nicho-
las, who was one of the tellers referred to, and who had re-
moved from Virginia, into the western part of the State of New
York. Mr. Nicholas gave to the honourable member the same
statement in substance, not knowing that it had been previously
derived from Mr. Wells. Mr. Nicholas was a warm personal
friend of Mr. Jefferson, and declared that he never felt so
astounded in his life, as when he discovered the irregularity.
He claimed some credit for the adroit manner in which he had
managed Mr. Rutledge, so far as to obtain his consent to hand
the paper to Mr. Jeffersou without public explaoation from the
APPENDIX. 487
ellers, and which was effected by a conciliatory appeal to the
nagnanimity of the member from South Carolina.
« The whole number of electoral votes given at the election
in 1800, was one hundred and thirty-eight: necessary to a
choice, seventy. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr had each, accord-
ing to the return made, seventy-three. Georgia g^vefour votes.
If that number had been deducted from Jefferson and Burr, as
illegally returned, of which there is no doubt, they would have
had only sixty-nine votes each ; consequently they would not
have had, in the language of the Constitution, * a majority of
the whole number of electors appointed,' and the candidates out
of which a choice of President must be made, would have been
Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Burr, Mr. Adams, Mr. Pinckney. The
Federal members would then have said to the Republicans, we
will unite with you in the choice of either of the gentlemen pre-
sented to the House except Mr. Jefferson ; and if the Govern-
ment is to be brought to a termination by our failure to elect a
President, the responsibility will be on you. And is it to be
believed, that in such a case the doubtful members who were
sighing for office, if any such there were, would have rejected
the suggestion in toto?*' — Davis' Life of Burr, vol. ii. pp.
71-74._Ei>.
INDEX.
Adair, Oeneral, Anecdote of, 324.
Adams, Mr. John, election of, to the Presidency, 385; administration
of, 388; imposition of taxes by, 389; tactics of his opponents,
391; singular fabrication, 392; addresses to, 394; reply of, 481;
Mr. Graydon*s comments on, 482.
Anecdotes, 88, 13U
Andrews, Dr. John, 39.
Allen, Colonel William, 108, 130, 140; defection of to the British,
131, 161; visit of, to Captain Graydon, 236.
Allen, James, 108, 118.
Allen, Andrew, 118, 280.
Allen, Colonel Ethan, 241, 243, 260.
Atlee, Colonel, 150, 334.
American Tactics, 176.
Policy, 234.
Army, appearance of the, 147, 256; character of the, 148,
150, 156; review of, before the battle of Brandy win6,
291; state of parties in, 322.
Generals, 298.
Americanisms, 229, 249.
Axtle, Mr., 252.
Allison, Patrick, 39.
Aids*de-camp, advantages of the station of, 159.
Addison, Alexander, 352.
Arnold, Washington's opinion of, 449.
490 IHDEZ.
Autobiography, motives in writing, 13; qiialifications for writing, 95.
Auchmaty, Lieatenani-General Sir S^unael, 274.
Badourin, Mr., 65.
Bradford, William, 111; character of, 112.
Baird, Dr., 141.
Baxter. Colonel, 201.
Bache, Theophylact, 250; kindness of, 250; captare of, 317.
Bache, Richard, 250.
Bache, Mrs. Sarah, 250, 327.
Bland, Colonel, Theodoric, 279.
Brandywine, Battle of, 291; reflections on, 293; incident at, 455.
Blancons, M., 380.
Beveridge, John, 35; anecdote of, 36; poetical attempts, death oC 37.
Beckwith, Lieutenant, humane and generous conduct of, 213; charac-
ter of, 219.
Bergen-op-Zoom, 287.
Benezet, Anthony, 326.
Bristol, past and present condition of, 16; inhabitants of, 22.
Biddle, Judge, character of, 21 .
Biddle, Mr. Edward, 285.
British, descent of, on Long Island, 162; engagement with the Ameri-
can troops, 163; skirmishing between the two armies, 173;
capture ofFort Washington by, 176,202; treatment of prisoners
by, 207, 232; loss of, in the battle, 216.
British soldiers, considerate treatment of, by the Americans, 214; on
parole, 304.
Bitting, Captain, 318.
Bond, Mr. Richard, 81.
' Boileau, Captain, 380.
Bunker's Hill, Battle of, 421.
l^urke, Edmund, opinions of, 403, 404.
Burgess, Miss Ann, 22; anecdote of, 73.
Burgoyne, General, opinion of, respecting taxation, 114; capture of,
297.
Bryan, George, 287.
Burr, Colonel Aaron, 357.
Carey, Henry, 32.
Caspipina Tarooc, 98.
Arbuthnot, Captain, 75.
IlffDEX.
491
Chalmers, Colonel, 108.
Clay, Rev. Mr., 109.
Camden, Lord, remark of, to Dr. Franklin, 116.
Cadwalader, General John, 123, duel of with General Conway, 301.
Cadwalader, Colonel Lambert, 181; gallantry of at Haerlem Heights,
196.
Carroll, John, 142.
Carroll, Charles, 142.
Carroll, Mrs., 244.
Chase, Samuel, 142.
Character, an odd, 154, 231.
Camp comforts, 189.
Chatham, Lord, remark of, 254.
Captivity, 257.
Charlton, Dr., 261.
Clarkson, Mr., 265.
Canon, Mr., 288.
Chartres, Colonel, character of, and epitaph on, 370.
Chew, Benjamin, 117, 290.
Clinton, Sir Henry, 101.
Clifton, Colonel, 108.
Clongh, Major, 111.
Congress at Philadelphia, 129.
Continental Batallions, 129.
Commissioners to Canada, 142.
Connecticut Light Horse, 155.
Council of Safety, 182; injudicious conduct of, 183; remonstrance of
officers, 185.
Coflee-House Incident, 240.
Conyngham, the Provost Marshal, 241.
Coxe, Tench, 273.
Conway, General, 299; conduct of, at the Battle of Germantown, 301.
Communities, selfishness of, 308.
Constitutionalists, 331.
Confederation, articles of, 339.
Constitution of the United States, adoption of, 340; opinions of Wash-
. ington, Hamilton, Henry, Franklin and Madison respect-
ing, 341; question of its adoption, 342.
Church, Mr., anecdote of, 76.
Churchill, quoted, 67, 68.
492 INDEX.
Draper, Sir William, 67; visit of, to Philadelphia and New York, 70.
Davidson, Lieutenant, 189.
Davenport, Captain, 237.
Drayton, William Henry, 323.
De Kalb, Baron, motives of, in espousing the Ameriean cause, 64;
gallantry and death of, 65.
Debating Society, 90.
Dement, Mr., 215.
Deserters from the cause of Independence, 238.
Democrat, the term, 331.
Democracy, the, 364; Burke's definition of, 402.
Diffidence, 83.
Dickinson, John, 106, 118, 337, 446.
Dinner Party, A, 230.
Dove, James, 24, anecdote of, 26.
Donop, Colonel, 265.
Duche, Rev. Jacob, 98; Author of Tamoc Gaspipina, 98; Letter of, to
General Washington, 99, 429.
Duer, William, 302.
Dunlap, Mr., harsh treatment of, 306.
Duelling, 324.
Early Reminiscences, 28, 30.
Edwards, Lieutenant, 183, 320.
England, political ascendancy of, 407, arrogance and ambition of, 406.
Etherington, Major George, 70; kindness of, to Mr. Graydon, 71;
Ulent of, for repartee, 73; knowledge of, of mankind, 74.
Etherington, Captain, anecdote of, 72.
Elegiac stanzas, 268.
Engineer Department, deficiency in the, 161.
Elliot, Mr. Andrew, 267.
Exclusive -patriotism, 306.
Franks, Miss, repartees of, 469.
Farmer's Letters, 106, 118.
Franklin, Dr., conversation of, with Mr. Pratt, 116; anecdote of, 131;
views of, on government, 286; politic conduct of, 328.
Fast Day, 137.
Flat Bush, Society at, 246, 253.
iin>£x. 493
Fanning, Colonel, 255.
Flahaven, Colonel, 316.
France, National Assembly of, 347 ; ReTolntion in, 357 ; popular
feeling towards, 368, 375, 388, 394, 403.
Fell, Major, 75.
Female Society, 81.
French Language, 89.
Fencing, 109,
Feuquiere, Marquis de, 291.
Federalists, 364, 397.
French Travellers, 377.
French Settlement in America, 379.
French party in America, 388.
Fisher, Mr., 263.
Findlay, William, 356, 373.
Fries's Insurrection, 393.
Fool Race, 46.
Forrest, Colonel, 132, 246, 315.
Fort Washington, 162; inefficiency of, 162; American Army in the
vicinity of, 174 ; untenable character of, 186, 192,
210; threatened attack upon, 187; skirmishing,
188 ; invested by the enemy, 191 ; considerations
relative to its defence, 192 ; battle on the neighbour-
ing heights, 193 ; gallantry of the Americans, 197,
253; capture of, 171, 197, 216.
Fox, Charles James, remark of, 256 ; character of, 336 ; Jeffrey's
Sketch of, 477.
Fonquet, General, Defence of Landshut by, 191.
Fonchet, M., 375.
Fludd, Robert, Treatise of, 65.
Frye, General Joseph, 158.
Graydon, Alexander, motives of, in writing, 14; ancestry of, 17;
family history of, 20; father of, 20, 23 ; removal of, to Phi-
ladelphia, 24 ; early education of, 25; anecdote of, 28 ; early
character of, 29 ; associates of, 40 ; retrospective events in
the history of, 42 ; early habits and amusements of, 55 ;
school anecdote of, 56 ; acquaintance of, with Major Ether-
ington, 72 ; introduction into new society, 81 ; choice of a
profession by, 83; begins the study of law, 108; retrospective
reflections^ 114; enters the army as captain, 129; anxiety
42
494 INDEX.
respecting his sabal terns, 132; success in recroiting, 137;
mission to General Schuyler, 138; incidents on the route,
139, 143; return, 145; leaves Philadelphia, to join the
army, 145; remarks on the condition of the army, 147;
adventures on Long Island, 164; skirmishing with the ene»
my, 165; impending engagement, 167; retreat, 167; gal-
lant conduct of his regiment, 168 ; marches to Fort Wash*
ington, 172 ; remarks on American tactics, 177 ; garrison
duty, 181; ludicrous incident, 189; insecure position of,
190; participation of, in the battle of Haerlem Heights, 195;
perilous situation and capture, 204; barbarous treatment of,
206; reflections on the loss of the fort, 211 ; generous con-
duct of a British officer, 213; anxiety on account of his bro*
ther, 217 ; marched to New York, 220 ; occurrences on the
road, 222 ; disposal of the prisoners, 224 ; baggage restored,
225; stroll through the city, 225; letter from his mother*
228: letter to her from Washington, 229 ; treatment of pri-
soners, 234; memorial to General Howe, 236; civilities to,
236 ; letter to the British officers, 239 ; exchange of prison-
ers, 245 ; removal from New York, 245 ; situation at Flat
Bush, 248; parole, 245; interview with Colonel Fanning,
254; stanzas by, 258; obstacles to an exchange of prisoners,
259; visited by his mother, 261, 264; residence at Flat
Bush, 266; application to General Howe by his mother for
his release, 268; liberation on parole, 269; arrives at New
York, 271; at the American camp, 274; interview with
Washington, 275; opinion of Hamilton, 276 ; occurrences
on the road, 279; reaches Philadelphia, 281 ; proceeds to
Reading, 283 ; political feelings, 284 ; Wilkinson's opinion
of Mr. Graydon, 297; he is exchanged, and marries, 309;
unfair treatment of, 325; aversion of, to political dissensions,
332; appointment to the prothonotarysbip of Dauphin
County, 334, 338; advocates the adoption of the national
constitution, 343; election of, to the state convention, 344;
views of questions debated in that body, 345 ; writes the
address to President Washington on the occasion of the
whiskey insurrection, 375; political principles of, 396; pro-
scription of, by the Democracy, 400; reflections, 401;
publication of his Memoirs, xi. ; character of the work by
the editor of the Port t^olio, xv. ; character of Mr. Gray-^
INDEX. 495
don, xvi.; translation of a Latin epigram by« xviii.; repub-
lication of the Memoirs, by Mr. Gait in, Scotland, xix ;
death of Mr. Graydon, xvi.
Gray don, Alexander, senior, recommended to be a field officer, 417;
death and character of, 33.
Graydon, William, 379.
Galloway, Joseph, 117, 267, 443.
Grant, Mrs., Memoirs of, quoted, 249.
Gait, John, his tribute to Mr. Graydon, xix.
Gates, General, 300.
Graff, Mr., 305.
Gadsden, Captain, 327.
Gallatin, Albert, 353.
" Greens, The " 123.
George the Third, demolition of the statue of, 161.
Greene, General, 169; opinion of the tenability of Fort Washington,
176,202; character of, 180: Hamilton's eulogium on, 212:
General Henry Lee's opinion of, 299.
Germantown, Battle of, 295.
Genet, Citizen, 363, 379,
Gibbon, the Historian, remark of, 63.
Grimm, Baron, correspondence of, 281.
Gordon, Thomas, 22.
Glover, General John, 148.
Governor, re-eligibility of the, 348.
Hanson, Mr., 110.
Hamilton, Alexander, 149; personal appearance of, 149; character of,
275; course of, in reference to the Constitution, 341,
Harrisburgh, 365; Washington at, 478: Mr. Adams at, 480.
Haslet, Colonel John, 150.
Hand, Colonel, 147.
Haerlem, occupation of the Heights of, by the American army, 178;
battle on the heights of, 196, 202.
Hancock, President, 283, 425.
Hanna, General, 374.
Henry, Patrick, influence of, in giving the impulse to the American
Revolution, 135; opinion of the Constitution, 341.
Heath, General, memoirs of, quoted, 173, 174.
Heath, Dan., 135.
Hessian, insolence of a, 207.
496 nnoEZ.
Hesketh, Captain, 228.
Highlander, geaerosity of a« 223.
Hutorical truth, 310.
Howe, General, 101 ; Wraxall'a opinion of, 101; Lee*a ditto, 101,
215: Walpole's ditto, 214; snpinenem of, 102; cantioos go-
neralflhip of, 170; attack on Fort Waahingfon, 196; Bor-
goyne's remark on his dispositions at Bunker's HilL 214; ob-
servation of, respecting Washington, 257; proelamadon oi,
offering pardon to the Americans, 227; memorial to, on the
part of the prisoners, 236; result of the application, 244; in-
terview with Mrs. Graydon, 268.
Hopkinson, Francis, letter to Mr. Duch^ 438 ; letter from General
Washington to, 437.
Hoops, Major Adam, 378.
Hoekley, William, 112.
Houssacker, Colonel, 237.
Hutchinson, Dr., 91.
Hunt, Isaac, treatment of, 127.
Hack, Captain, 200.
Hutchins, Captain Thomas, 251.
Izard, Ralph, 227.
Idleness, dangers of, 80.
Independence, declaration of, 159; reception of, by Congress, 307,
and the country, 160; motives which induced it, 329.
Indians, alarm caused by, 23, 46; attempted massacre of, 47.
Irish, feeling of, in favour of the Revolution, 122.
Introduction, 13; editor*s introduction, zL
Jay, John, 357, 376, Treaty of, 376.
Jefferson, Mr., opinion respecting commerce, 253; abuse of Hamilton
by, 276, and of Washington, 369; political views of, 361;
reward of partizans by, 362; election of, to the Presi-
dency, 384; character of, 399; means employed to secure
his election, 403.
Johnson, Samuel, 100, 107.
Johnstone, Governor, 119.
Johnson, Mr., 223.
Johnson, Heathcote, 236.
INDEX. 497
Junius, style of, 06, 97; claim of General Charles Lee to the author-
ship of the Letters of, 320; Dr. Macleane's do. 421.
Kearsley, Dr., 78, 126.
Keating, Captain, 380.
Kinnesly, Mr., attainments of, in Electricity, 27; catastrophe of the
son of, 93.
Lake George, 142.
Laurens, John, Colonel, 323; dufl of, with General Charles Lee»
324 ; character of, 472.
Lewis, Mr., 344, 348, 352, 354.
Lewis, Samuel, 44.
Lee, Henry, Memoirs of, quoted, 101; character of, 279; opinion of
General Greene, 299.
Lee, Richard Henry, opinion of General Mifflin, 154.
Lee, General Charles, profane remark of, 138; opinion of, respecting
Fort Washington, 177, 193; character of, 320)
dislike of Washington, 320; capture of, 451;
arrest and trial of, 459, 468; Letter to Misa
Franks, 468; abuse of Washington, 465^
Lenox, Captain, 200, 259.
Legislature, division of, into two houses, 287..
Liberty, professions of attachment to, 139^
Livingston, Judge Brockolst, 145s
Loxley, Captain, 47 1,
Love, 81, 281.
Long Island, battle of, 162; skirmishtng between the armies, 169;
gallantry of the Americans, 168; causes of the
loss of the battle of, 169; Lee's opinion of the
impolicy of retaining possession of, 177; escape
of prisoners from, 314,
Loring, Commissary, 245.
Ludwig, Christopher, Baker General of the army, 161..
Lux, Mr. George, 328, 329.
Lyttelton, Lord, opinion of, on (a](ation« 114..
Lutterloh, Henry, 302,
Macleane, Dr. l^iuchlan, 42, kindness, of, to Dr. Goldsmith, 42, bio-,
graphical notice of, 419; reputed author o£
the Letters of Junius, 418.
42»
498
IVDEZ.
Manvaise honte, 84.
M'Kean, Thomas, chaneter and smrioes oC 180, 121, 394, 305.
Martial Ezerctfes, 123, 125.
Martial Fame, Elements of, 216w
Major, a traveUing, 141.
Magaw, Colooel Robert, gaUant reply of, 151; snrrencler of Port
Washington by, 176; remaifa on the plan
of defence adopted by, 101; inadeqaaey of
the garrison, 101; ontenableness of the
Port, IW, 102; captiTity and marriage
of, 318.
Maitland, Major, 210.
Matthews, Mayor, 252, 272.
Matthews, General, 264.
Manael, Captain, 221.
Mariner, Mr., descent of, on Long Island 316.
Macaoley, Mrs., interriew of, with Washington, 360.
Maryland Senate, 346.
Mazzei, Mr. Jefferson's Letter to, traducing Washington, 320.
McHenry, Dr. James, 244.
Menzies, Colonel, asecdote of, 112; escape of, from the enemy, 183.
Mental Derangement, singular ease of, Ua
Melchior, Colonel, 160.
Mercer, General, 200.
Miles, Colonel, 140, 257, 260^ 275, 304.
Mifflin. General, Thomas, 153, 154, 200, 356, 374.
Midnight Scene in Camp, 167.
Militia, Insubordination of, 102.
Militia Captain, a, 200.
Miller, Captain, 21 &
Military Rank, difficulties in the ad|ostment ot 810.
Milton, quotation from, 331.
Moore, Lady and Daughter, 66.
Morality of Fictitious Heroes, Of^.
Morrisania, Bneampment at, 173.
Moncreif, Major, 252; capture of, 317.
Monmouth, Battle of, 457.
National Strength, Reflections on, 203.
New York, military preparations in, 140; alarm at^proAicod by the
JKDEX. 499
reBQlt of the battle on Long Island, 163; evacnation of, bj
the American army, 172; conflagration at, 178.
New-England Officers, 143, 156, 179; vindication of, 157.
Noailles, Viscount De, 379.
Novels, injurious influence of, 92, 95,
Nocturnal Incident, 189.
Ogle and Fnend, anecdotes of, 51.
0*Brian, the Comedian, 67.
Otis, Harrison Grey, Eulogium of, on Hamilton, 876.
Osborne, Sir George, heartless bon mot of, 366.
Paxton Boys, 46.
Party Spirit, 49, 350, 360, 369, 384, 401, xzii.
Parson, a Maryland, 103.
Parma, Prince of, masterly retreat of, 169.
Paine, Thomas, 187.
Parole, question respecting, 260.
Pauli, Major, 265.
Parvin, Mr., oppression of, 325.
Paine, Thomas, 358.
Prescott, Colonel, 423.
Peale, C. W., 61.
Pemberton*8 House and Gardens, 43.
Penn, Richard, anecdote of, 131; popularity of, 132.
Penn, John, 132.
Penn Family, influence of the Revolution upon, 131.
Pennsylvania, exertions of, in the Revolution, 132; foreigners among
the troops of, 181; constitution for, 286; party spirit
in, 331, 350; convention for changing the constitution!
344; debates on that occasion, 345; State Senators,
346; Executive power, 347; re-eligibility of the Cover-
nor, 348; regulation of the Press, 349; threatened in-
surrection in, 372, 393.
Philadelphia in 1731, 19; academy of, 40; yellow fever in, 1760,
44; taken possession of by General Howe, 287; theatri-
cal8,87.
Pike, Mr. 289.
Prisoners, difficulties in the way of an exchange of»257; miserable
condition of, 232, 244^ 270; exchange o( 245; escape o&
from Long Island, 314 ; general exchange of, 318»
Pickering, Colonel Timothy^ 355..
500 INDEX.
Political differences with England, 114.
proscription, 401.
inconsistency, instance of. 124,
feelings, 284.
Posts, policy of a war of, 175.
Promotion not always the reward of meriti 183.
Popular fanaticism, 395.
Putnam, Colonel, 147, 151.
Putnam, General, 169, 179, 180.
Quakers, friendliness of, towards the Indians, 23 ; peaceful principles
of, 46, 122, 326.
••Quaker Blues," 122.
Baynal, Abb^, 61.
Rawlings, Colonel, 194; gallantry o(at the battle of Haeilem Heights,
197, 200, 3ia
Randolph, Edmund, 360.
Reily, John, 25.
Reid, General John, 75.
Reed, General Joseph, character and senrices o( 119.
Revolution, causes of the, 115; opinions of Horace Walpole respecting,
115; disposition of the people towards, 122; origination
of, in the upper classes of society, 134 ; influence of Pa-
trick Henry in producing, 135.
Recruiting adventures, 133, 137.
Reubell Domine, 253.
Reading, society at, 299; British officers on parole at, 304-; visiters
at, 329.
Republicans, 331.
Richardson, Mr., 68; anecdote of his visit to Sir William Draper, 69.
Richardson, Captain, 255.
Rivington, the King's Printer, 77.
Richardson's novels, 94.
Rivers, difficulty of disputing the passage of, 291.
Robinson, Mr., 111.
Ross, John, 118, 394.
Ross, James, 352.
Robertson, General, 259.
Rochefoucauld, 377.
Rousseau, 400.
INDEX. 501
••Sally of the Alley," origia of the ballad of, 83.
Sailing excaraion, 57.
Skating, 69.
Slate Roof Honse, The, 62; inmates of, De Kalb, 64; Badonrin, 65;
Lady Moore, 66; O'Brian, 67; Sir William Draper,
68; Major Etherington, 70; Majors Small and Fell,
76; Captain Wallace, 75; Rivington, 77.
Sparks, Mr., quoted, 127, 140, 177; value of the writings of, 811.
Smallwood, Colonel William, 150.
Staten Island, occupation of, by the British, 163.
Scammell, Colonel, mistake of, 168.
St. Clair, retreat of, from Ticonderoga, 297.
State Senators, mode of electing, 847.
Stael, Madame De, opinion of, 855.
Stevens, Mr., 41.
Stedman, Judge, anecdote of, 105.
Stedman,* Mr., unfounded censure of, 192; testimony of, to the gallantry
of the Americans, 216.
Skene, Major, 127, 208, 228.
Shee, Colonel John, 180, 138; retirement of, from the army, 181.
Stewart, Colonel Walter, 159, 313.
Stewart, Major John, escape of, 314.
Stewart, Lieutenant, trial of, 179.
Steddiford, Ensign, 207.
Speke, Captain, 802.
Sedition Law, 849.
Swimming and skating, 69.
Smith, James, 104; anecdotes of, 105.
Skinner, Alexander, 109, 110.
Shippen, Edward, 118.
"Silk Stocking Company, The," 123.
Smith, Genera], 180.
Sitgreaves, Samuel, 862.
Smilie, John, 256.
Singlar Fabrication, 392.
School Anecdotes, 56.
Soldiers, character of the, 148, 150, 156, privations of, 164, panic of,
174; contrast in the appearance of the British and American,
314.
Supernumerary officers, 318.
502 IHDKX.
Sonday, injudicioas treatment of children on, 2L
Susquehanna Bridge, 107.
Schuyler, General, 143, character d, 144; eonvemtion with
Washington respecting Arnold, 449.
Sulliran^s *" Familiar Letters," quoted, 14^ 276.
StutzoB, Mr., 305.
Suydam, Jacob, 248, 253.
Snyder, Governor, 351.
Tartar, Privateer, shipwreck of, 19.
Taylor, Chevalier, 24.
Taxes, direct, imposition of, 389.
Taxation without representation, 115, 117.
Targetrshooting, 125.
Talleyrand, an American, 125.
Talon, M., 379, 381.
Theatre, influence of, 88,
Tilghman, J., 117.
Tilghman, Colonel Tench, 277.
Tilghman, Edward, anecdote of, 200.
Ticonderoga, capture of, by Colonel Allen, 242.
Titles, affectation in, 314.
Thomson, Charles, anecdote of, 26; character of, 311.
** Toper and the Flies," origin of the story of, 79.
Townshend, Charles, remark of, respecting Greneral Johnstone; 120.
Tudor, Mr., private correspondence with, 271.
Truxton, Commodore, 395.
United States Bank, 44.
Vandyke, Colonel, 108.
Van Zinder, Domine, 253.
Van Home, Mr., 263. 279.
Van Home, Misses, 265.
Valley Forge, army at, 313.
Virginia, aversion of, to the Infantry Service, 168.
Volunteer Companies, 122; Quaker Blues, 123; The Silk Stocking
Company, 124.
Wharton, Mr., alias Duke, 70.
INDEX.
503
Wallace, Captain, insolence and brutality of, 76.
Wallace, Mr., 253.
Wraxall, quoted, 101.
Walpole, Horace, quoted, 128.
Wade, Francis, 128.
Washington, opinions of, respecting the army, 148, 166; vindication
in reference to the Battle of Long Island, 170; chagrin
of, at the pusillanimity of his soldiers 171; sagacity of,
respecting Fort Washington, 176, 194; tactics of, 178;
narrove escape of, at the Battle of Haerlem Heights, 200;
interest of, in Mr. Graydon, 229; marches against the
enemy at Brandywine, 290, incident there, 455; result
of the Battle, 293; subsequent measures of, 295; opera-
tions of, at Germanto wn, 296; cabal against, 299; election
of, to the Presidency, 343; prosperity of the country
under his administration, 358; neutrality of, in reference
to France and England, 368; suppression of the whiskey
insurrection by, 373; retires from the Presidency, 382;
character, 383, and death of, 398; Letter of, to Mr.
Duch£, 433; correspondence with General Lee, 462;
Letters to President Reed, 449, 454, 466; arrival at Har-
risburgh, 478.
Warren, General, 421.
Wayne, General, 277.
War, reflections on, 269.
Ward, General Artemas, 157.
Warren, CapUin, 221.
Walsh, Robert, quoted, 408.
West, Major, 230, 269, 304.
Western Expedition, 374.
Wilson, James, 333, 344, 352.
Wilson, Captain, 212, 230.
Wilson, Judge, 39.
Wirt, William, quoted, 136.
Wilkinson, General, quoted, 139; character and services of, 297;
opinion of Mr. Graydon, 298.
White Plains, action at, 187.
Williams, Major, Escape of, 315.
Williams, General Otho Holland, 242.
504 INDEX.
Withenpoon, Dr., 307; anecdote of, on the Dedantion of Indepen-
dence, 307.
Whitemarah, army at, 318.
Whiskey Insurrection, 372.
Woodward, The Actor, 67.
Wordsworth, tribute of, to Lamb applied to Mr. Graydon, zxiv.
Woedtke, Baron, 140.
Yarnall, Dr., 155.
Yellow Fever, 365; causes of, at Harrisburgb, 365.
York, past and present condition of, 100; Society at, 102, 106; Con-
grese at, 107.
THE END.
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